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Carmona, Garko lead Indians to sweep of Tigers

May 28, 2007 - 4:53 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- Fausto Carmona and the Cleveland Indians showed they can play with the Detroit Tigers.

Carmona pitched seven solid innings and Ryan Garko hit a three-run homer in the first inning as the Indians completed a three-game sweep of the defending American League champion Tigers with a 5-3 victory on Sunday.

The 23-year-old Carmona (6-1) held one of the majors' best hitting teams to just three runs and nine hits in seven innings to earn his sixth straight win.

Cleveland, which went just 6-13 against Detroit last season, held the potent offense to 10 runs in the series while taking a 2 1/2-game lead in the AL Central.

Carmona allowed three in the third, but got some big outs to get out of jams in the fifth, sixth and seventh to preserve a 5-3 lead.

"He worked hard," Cleveland manager Eric Wedge said. "They got to him in that one inning but we still had the lead. He never gave in, made big pitches and got the big outs when he needed them."

Garko gave Carmona a nice cushion when he hit a 0-1 changeup to left for a three-run homer off Tigers starter Mike Maroth (3-2) - his seventh of the season - to put Cleveland up, 4-0, as it sent eight men to the plate.

After the Indians struck early, Maroth settled down and allowed just one run in the next seven innings.

"It was great to get out of the gate early," Garko said. "It sent the tone for the rest of the game. It was really the ones we got off of Maroth. He settled down and pitched pretty well the rest of the way."

Casey Blake gave Carmona an insurance run when he hit a solo homer in the fifth - his seventh of the season - for the Indians, who have won four straight.

Gary Sheffield and Craig Monroe each had two hits and drove in a run each for Detroit, which came into the game hitting .306 with runners in scoring position - the best in the baseball. However, they missed opportunities all night, stranding nine runners.

"Give the guy out some credit," Monroe said. "He's a good pitcher with an amazing arm. He kept us off-balance all night."

As a result the Tigers were swept for the first time this season.

"The sweep doesn't bother me a bit," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "It's only May, they have a good team, we have a good team. There is plenty of baseball left."

Detroit, which leads the majors with 190 extra-base hits, put the first two runners on in the sixth, but Carmona got Sean Casey to hit into a double play and got Carlos Guillen to line out to end the threat.

"We had our chances," Casey said. "Carmona just shut us down. He throwa hard and has a heavy sinker. He's tough."

In the seventh, Brandon Inge led off with a double to right-center, but with two out and runners on the corners, Carmona got Magglio Ordonez to hit a weak comebacker to end the threat.

Detroit, which failed to hit a homer for the first time in 15 home games, also wasted a leadoff double by Curtis Granderson in the fifth.

Rafael Betancourt allowed a two-out double to Casey and a single to Omar Infante in the eighth, but struck out Inge swinging to end the threat. Joe Borowski pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his 17th save in 19 tries.

Maroth pitched well despite the huge first inning. He allowed just two walks before giving up Blake's blast. The righthander allowed five runs and six hits in eight innings to drop his second consecutive start.

"It was one bad pitch, a changeup up in the zone," Maroth said. "It put us down four and put a lot of pressure on our offense. At least, I was able to come back and go deep into the game. That gave us a chance to win."