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Indians look to remain unbeaten against Tigers

Jun 1, 2007 - 1:18 PM Detroit (30-23) at Cleveland (33-19) 7:05 pm EDT

CLEVELAND (Ticker) - Most people wrote off the Cleveland Indians' road sweep of the Detroit Tigers as a fluke. However, if the series opener on Thursday is any indication, the Indians may just have their number.

Cleveland goes for their sixth straight win over Detroit on Friday as they meet for the second game of a four-game weekend series at Jacobs Field.

The Indians, whose 4-0 record against the Tigers thus far has enabled the team to jump out to a 14-4 mark within the American League Central, are starting to ride the bat of their slugger, Travis Hafner, who had struggled for much of the first month at home.

The slugger endured a horrible April at home in 11 games, batting .179 (7-for-39) with a homer and six RBI in the month before turning it around in May, hitting .303 (10-for-33) with three home runs and 11 RBI in 10 contests at Jacobs Field.

Fausto Carmona (6-1, 2.89 ERA), who capped the sweep of Detroit in his last start on Sunday, will get the start for the Indians. The sinkerballer yielded three runs and nine hits over seven innings in Cleveland's 5-3 victory.

The righthander is 2-1 with a 3.45 ERA in five lifetime appearances - including two starts - against the Tigers.

Mike Maroth (3-2, 5.04) opposes Carmona once again for the second time in five days. The lefthander, who is 8-4 with a 3.00 ERA in 13 starts against Cleveland, lost his second consecutive start after allowing five runs and six hits in eight innings on Sunday.