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Indians pay a visit to Tigers

Apr 24, 2015 - 2:28 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Cleveland Indians will wrap up their current road trip in Detroit this weekend as they begin a three-game series against the division-rival Tigers Friday night at Comerica Park.

Cleveland is just 2-4 so far on the nine-game trip after dropping consecutive series to American League Central Division foes Minnesota and Chicago. The Indians are in the midst of a 17-game stretch against AL Central teams.

They had the day off Thursday after getting shut out 6-0 in Wednesday's series finale with the White Sox, who out-hit Cleveland by a 14-8 margin. Reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber went six innings and was responsible for 13 of those hits and all six runs. He struck out six and walked one.

"I made some mistakes," Kluber said of his performance. "And I probably didn't do a good enough job pitching inside to keep them off balance when I did make those mistakes."

Detroit is in the midst of playing 10 straight at home. The Tigers got off to a 3-1 start on the homestand but now find themselves looking to get back on track after suffering three straight losses to the New York Yankees this week.

Both teams were held to just three hits in Thursday's pitcher's duel, which the Yankees wound up winning by a 2-1 final behind starter Masahiro Tanaka to take the series.

Anibal Sanchez threw 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball for Detroit as he allowed just one hit and struck out eight. However, he was also called for a balk in the sixth inning that allowed New York to tie the game.

The temperature was just 33 degrees at first pitch.

"We were all playing in the same weather," Victor Martinez said of his team's offensive struggles. "They did things better than we did. There were no excuses for nothing. They were playing in the same weather."

Detroit will turn to Shane Greene to start Friday's series opener. The right- hander is 3-0 with a 0.39 ERA after three starts. Greene is hoping to become the first Tigers pitcher since Frank Tanana in 1988 to win his first four outings. He lasted eight innings in each of his first two starts, then went seven innings against the Chicago White Sox on Sunday and allowed only one run on five hits.

Cleveland will counter with Danny Salazar, who is coming off a stellar season debut in Minnesota last weekend. The righty struck out 10 batters in six innings and allowed two runs on six hits as the Tribe won 4-2. The second of those runs allowed came on a solo homer by Kurt Suzuki in the seventh inning, and Salazar left with a two-run lead.

The Tigers swept a three-game set when these teams met up in Cleveland earlier this month.