Tribe’s Masterson tames Tigers’ bats

Associated Press

DETROIT

Jim Leyland loaded the lineup with lefties against Justin Masterson, then watched his Detroit Tigers struggle to another loss.

Afterward, there wasn’t a hint of panic in his voice.

“I’m not frustrated,” Leyland said. “I’m not going to change. We’ve been the same all year. We come here ready to do our job and do our best.”

Don’t expect a lot of theatrics from the veteran manager over these final pressure-packed weeks of the regular season — no matter how exasperating things look on the field.

Masterson pitched six solid innings Tuesday night, and the Cleveland Indians beat Detroit 3-2 for their second straight victory over the playoff-chasing Tigers.

After being swept three straight by Kansas City, Detroit turned around and took three in a row from Chicago to pull even with the White Sox atop the AL Central. Now the Tigers have lost two straight to a Cleveland team that dropped 29 of 35 before this series.

Detroit’s last six losses have been by one run.

“It’s not a frustration, it’s the real world. You’ve got to win games,” Leyland said. “If you want to get to the postseason, we’ve got to win enough games to do it, but I’m not going to change. That’s just the way it is. We come here steady every day.”

The Tigers dropped 11/2 games behind the first-place White Sox, but Chicago was losing big to Minnesota when the Detroit game ended.

Miguel Cabrera hit a two-run homer for Detroit, but the Tigers managed only four hits. They began the game with five left-handed hitters in the lineup. Masterson wasn’t bothered.

“He’s a guy we look to every five games to do just what he did tonight because he has the stuff to do it,” Cleveland manager Manny Acta said. “When he’s like tonight, when he’s able to command the ball, it doesn’t matter how many lefties they have out there.”

Masterson (11-12) allowed two runs and four hits. The right-hander walked one and struck out four.

Four relievers finished, with Chris Perez pitching a perfect ninth for his 34th save in 38 chances.

Cleveland was 0-10-1 in its last 11 series. This will be the first winning series for the Indians since they took two of three from Detroit from July 24-26.