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Gutierrez homers to lift Indians past Tigers

Aug 26, 2008 - 3:42 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- Franklin Gutierrez is beginning to enjoy his late-inning heroics.

Gutierrez belted a solo homer in the 10th inning as the Cleveland Indians extended their winning streak to a season-high eight games with a 4-3 triumph over the Detroit Tigers on Monday.

The outfielder, who is 11-for-28 (.393) with 10 RBI during the winning streak, also drove in the go-ahead run in the ninth inning during the Indians' 4-3 win against the Texas Rangers on Sunday. After sweeping the Rangers, Cleveland has also won seven in a row on the road.

"That's the first time that's happened to me," Gutierrez said. "I've been having some good games in the late innings."

Detroit reliever Gary Glover (1-3) took over for Casey Fossum, who retired Grady Sizemore to begin the frame, and promptly served up Gutierrez's decisive blow.

"It was a decent pitch," Glover said. "I tried to run it in on him, but he got a good swing. At first, I thought it was going foul, but to my surprise it didn't. It wasn't the best pitch to throw at that time."

After Rafael Perez wiggled out of a two-on, two-out jam in the eighth, Brendan Donnelly (1-0) tossed a perfect ninth to pick up the win.

Jensen Lewis pitched a perfect ninth to notch his seventh save in as many chances.

"They have been on a roll, but I thought that we did a good job of shutting them down tonight," Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. "What hurt us was not enough offense. We got hits but didn't do much with it. We didn't swing the bats well enough to score runs."

The Indians have finally found a groove recently, winning 14 of their last 17. Their offense, missing injured sluggers Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner for much of the season, has averaged 5.8 runs in the last 17 contests.

Brandon Inge reached on an infield single to score Matt Joyce and tie the score at 3-3 in the seventh against Indians reliever Masa Kobayashi.

Marcus Thames laced a one-out single against Zach Jackson, who was lifted for Kobayashi. He then advanced to second after Kobayashi uncorked a wild pitch. Edgar Renteria followed with an infield single, and when Thames ran to third, he felt discomfort before being replaced by Joyce.

Thames, who homered in the second, is considered day-to-day with a left calf cramp.

Sizemore led the game off with a homer against Tigers starter Armando Galarraga, making him the first player in the majors to reach the 30-homers, 30-stolen bases plateau this season.

"(Sizemore) is unbelievable," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "You wouldn't know if it was his first or his 30th. In a low-scoring ballgame, he set the tone. That's what he does. He does it from a spot in the order that can give us a lot of energy."

Sizemore also became the 14th American League player to reach that milestone.

"It's exciting when we're playing well like we are," Sizemore said. "We're finding ways to win right now and that's what you want."

Galarraga surrendered another solo shot to Sizemore in the third, which gave the Indians a 2-1 advantage. The rookie righthander worked seven innings, allowing three runs and eight hits.

"They were very aggressive against (Galarraga)," Leyland said. "He made a couple of mistakes to Sizemore. The first homer, I thought was a good pitch. He settled in and did a good job."

He has allowed three or fewer runs in each of his last seven starts - including a victory over Cleveland on July 29 - and entered the game 3-0 with a 3.57 ERA in three starts this season against the Indians.

Jackson, who was a part of the package the Milwaukee Brewers sent to the Indians in the CC Sabathia deal, allowed three runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings while striking out six and walking none.

"He's progressed in each outing," Wedge said. "He was very good today and put us in a good position to win the ballgame."

In the fourth, Ryan Garko laced an RBI single to increase Cleveland's bulge to 3-1, but Edgar Renteria connected on his eighth homer of the season in the following frame to cut the deficit in half.