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Verlander continues Cy Young bid against Indians

Sep 18, 2007 - 1:01 PM Detroit (83-69) at Cleveland (88-62) 7:05 pm EDT

CLEVELAND (Ticker) - The Cleveland Indians hope to put even more space between them and the Detroit Tigers in the American League Central as the clubs continue their critical three-game series on Tuesday.

After Casey Blake hit his second walk-off homer in four days to lift the Indians to a 6-5 victory over the demoralized Tigers on Monday, Cleveland took a 5 1/2 game advantage over Detroit in the AL Central race. The loss also dropped the Tigers 3 1/2 games behind the New York Yankees (86-64) in the wild card race.

Detroit, which has won 10 of its last 13 contests, will send Cy Young candidate Justin Verlander (17-5, 3.47 ERA) to the mound. The righthander has won his last four starts, yielding just three runs in 28 2/3 innings over that span.

Cleveland roughed up the 2006 AL Rookie of the Year for seven runs and 10 hits over four frames in an 11-8 win on August 22. In his previous outing Wednesday, Verlander surrendered just one run and seven hits over seven innings in a 5-1 victory over Texas.

The Indians will start righthander Jake Westbrook (5-9, 4.38), who has struggled after consecutive 15-win seasons and is just 4-8 with a 6.09 ERA against Detroit.

Westbrook is winless in his last three starts, including a 7-4 loss to the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday in which he was tagged for five runs and seven hits in six innings.

However, Westbrook has come up big in his one start - August 23 - at Detroit, tossing eight scoreless innings in a 3-1 win.