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Indians aim for more home cooking and a sweep of Tigers

May 1, 2011 - 2:57 PM (Sports Network) - The Cleveland Indians are on a tear at home and Justin Masterson is part of the reason for the Tribe's incredible early success this season.

Masterson, who has won all five of his starts this season, will be on the mound this afternoon when the Indians aim to complete a three-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers. Cleveland has won its last 12 games at Progressive Field, its longest home winning streak since a 13-game run, April 6 - May 17, 1996

The franchise record for longest home winning string is 18, set during the 1994 campaign.

Masterson is the first Indian to win each of his first five starts since Cliff Lee started 6-0 after six games in 2008. Already just the fourth pitcher in team history to get five wins during a single April, Masterson will try to carry that over into May. He gave up five hits and three runs over 6 2/3 innings of a victory against Kansas City on Tuesday. He's 0-2 with a 6.10 ERA in six games (3 starts) against Detroit.

Phil Coke will try to turn around his early season struggles as he gets the ball today for the Tigers, who have lost 10 straight games in Cleveland. Coke has lost his last two starts, both against Seattle, allowing 14 hits and 13 runs -- nine earned -- over eight innings. He's 1-2 with a 2.08 ERA in 11 games (all in relief) against the Indians.

On Saturday, Orlando Cabrera's bases-loaded hit in the bottom of the 13th inning lifted the Indians to a 3-2 victory over the Tigers for their second final at-bat victory in as many days.

"We expect to win every day, there's no doubt about that," Cabrera said. "We know that losses are going to come, but we expect to win every day, expect to fight, especially here."

Tony Sipp (1-0) got the win, working two scoreless innings of relief to give the Indians their fifth straight win overall.

Brayan Villarreal (1-1) took the loss in 1 1/3 innings of relief, handing Detroit its fifth straight defeat after a four-game win streak. Detroit batters fanned 12 times.

"We just didn't show any patience at the plate" Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "That many strikeouts and swinging at the pitches we did, that's just not acceptable. I'm not going to sugar coat it...that's poor concentration."