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Cabrera homers in ninth to lift Tigers to victory

Jul 10, 2008 - 3:55 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- Miguel Cabrera sent the struggling Cleveland Indians to their longest losing streak in more than 29 years.

Cabrera belted a two-run homer with one out in the ninth inning Wednesday, rallying the Detroit Tigers to an 8-6 victory over the Indians, who have lost 10 consecutive games.

Carlos Guillen hit a two-run double and Matt Joyce launched a game-tying, two-run homer in the seventh for the Tigers. Detroit had trailed, 6-0, before recording its largest comeback of the season.

Grady Sizemore went 3-for-5 and drove in two runs for the Indians, who have dropped 10 in a row for the first time since June 17-27, 1979.

"I have never in my career been through this before," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "Not as a player or

a manager. I'm meeting with the team tomorrow to discuss the situation. The effort is there but what is lacking is the consistent performance from our players. We need to find that."

After Marcus Thames singled and Guillen fouled out in the ninth, Cabrera crushed a 1-0 pitch from Jensen Lewis (0-3) over the wall in left field, giving the Tigers a two-game sweep of the Indians.

"I try to do my best," Cabrera said. "He threw me a fastball, I put a big swing swing on it and luckily, the ball went out. I think good things are beginning to happen to us. We are playing hard, trying to do our best."

"You just can't throw pitches up and over to aggressive hitters like Thames and Cabrera," Wedge said of Lewis' performance. "You have to pitch to them, not just throw."

It was Cabrera's second walk-off homer of the season.

Todd Jones (4-0) worked around a leadoff double by Casey Blake in the top of the ninth to record the win.

The Tigers trailed, 6-1, before knotting the contest with five runs in the seventh.

Guillen's two-run double off Rafael Betancourt brought Detroit within three runs before Cabrera's RBI groundout drew the Tigers within 6-4. Joyce then belted a one-out, two-run homer into the bullpen in right to even the game.

"I had goose bumps," Joyce said. "My adrenaline was going. I was just running around the bases and couldn't feel my feet running. I was on the clouds."

Cleveland had given starter Paul Byrd a six-run advantage through 5 1/3 innings before the lead evaporated.

Jhonny Peralta, Casey Blake and Shin-Soo Choo each drove in a run in the first before RBI singles by Sizemore in the second and fourth gave the Indians a 5-0 cushion. A fielding error by third baseman Guillen in the top of the sixth allowed Sal Fasano to score for Indians' final run.

Detroit began its comeback on Edgar Renteria's RBI single in the sixth. Renteria later departed the game with a mild left hamstring strain and is listed as day-to-day.

"Edgar's injury didn't appear too bad, but we don't know," Leyland said. "Hopefully, it isn't bad, because he's ready to get hot."

Byrd allowed three runs, nine hits and a walk while striking out five.

"I was able to keep the ball down tonight," said Byrd, who didn't give up a run until allowing one in the sixth and two in the seventh. "I very happy with my performance and hope to be able to build on it. What I'm not happy with is that I couldn't put them away in the seventh and get us the win."

Byrd also weighed in on his club's losing streak.

"I'm not trying to make excuses but it's a combination of things," Byrd said. "It's bad breaks, missed plays and everything. It's gut check time now. We have to fight hard to get back into this thing."

Tigers rookie starter Eddie Bonine went 3 2/3 innings, surrendering five runs, nine hits and a walk with one strikeout.

"The Indians are a good hitting club, and if you aren't overpowering, they are going to make you pay for your mistakes," Leyland said of Bonine, who after the game was optioned to Class AA Erie of the Eastern League.