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Indians continue domination of Tigers

Jun 1, 2007 - 3:59 AM CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- The ejection of Detroit Tigers slugger Gary Sheffield lit a fire under the Cleveland Indians.

Victor Martinez hit a two-run homer and Travis Hafner added a two-run single to highlight a four-run fifth inning as the Indians cruised to an 11-5 victory over the Indians in the opener of the four-game series.

Sheffield, the Tigers' designated hitter, was ejected for having words with home plate umpire Greg Gibson in the fifth inning.

The Indians responded with four runs in the bottom of the frame to improve to 4-0 against their American League Central Division rivals this season.

"It feels good to be playing well against them," Indians starter C.C. Sabathia said.

Cleveland (33-19), which expanded its division lead expand to 3 1/2 games, swept Detroit (30-23) in a three-game set at Comerica Park last weekend.

"We're not playing very good," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "(Cleveland) looks like it was playing with us. We're in a real bad flow right now."

With the Tigers holding a 4-2 lead, Sheffield was ejected after his groundout to second baseman Josh Barfield. Gibson immediately made the call, prompting an irate reaction from Sheffield before Leyland and catcher Ivan Rodriguez tried to restrain him.

"I don't talk about that stuff," Leyland said. "That's a dead end. I don't talk about the umpires in the papers. Obviously, he (Sheffield) and the umpire had a disagreement."

Sheffield declined to comment through a Tigers spokesman.

Before he snapped at the umpire, Sheffield ripped an RBI double to highlight a three-run third inning for the Tigers. Magglio Ordonez's groundout plated Placido Polanco for his league-leading 49th RBI and Marcus Thames' single to right field brought Sheffield home to give the Tigers a 4-2 lead.

The Indians countered with a pair of four-run innings - in the fifth and in the eighth - to ice the game.

Martinez's home run in the fifth extended his RBI streak to seven games.

"I'm swinging the bat OK," said Martinez, who has 10 RBI during the streak. "I'm looking for good pitches to hit and I am hitting the balls hard."

Cleveland got out of the blocks early as Hafner greeted Tigers starter Justin Verlander (5-2) with a two-run home run to center in the first inning.

"I feel like my swing is getting better," said Hafner, who struggled for most of May. "I am starting to get better results now. It's nice to get the results, because baseball is all about confidence."

Craig Monroe countered with a solo blast off Indians starter C.C. Sabathia (8-1) in the second inning.

Both starting pitchers struggled early, as Verlander exited in the bottom of the sixth, surrendering seven runs on eight hits with three hit batsmen and two wild pitches.

"I'm supposed to give us a chance to win, but I didn't do that," Verlander said. "It was not a very good night. I have to do better than that."

After a tough start, Sabathia settled down nicely. The lefty allowed five runs on 10 hits but picked up the win to tie him with Boston's Josh Beckett and Los Angeles of Anaheim's John Lackey for the major league lead. Sabathia has pitched into the seventh inning in eight of his 12 starts.

"Detroit made some adjustments from last time I faced them," Sabathia said. "I just wanted to try and keep us in the game. If you are able to keep our offense in the game, they are going to do what they did tonight."

Rafael Betancourt relieved Sabathia in the eighth and promptly recorded the final two outs of the inning.