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Carmona, Indians cool off Tigers

Apr 18, 2008 - 4:13 AM By Todd Krepop PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- Cleveland Indians manager Eric Wedge feels his offense finally has something to feed off.

Ryan Garko and Travis Hafner each hit two-run homers as the Indians powered their way past the Detroit Tigers, 11-1, on Thursday night.

Jason Michaels added three RBI and Fausto Carmona bounced back from a poor last start as the Indians snapped their three-game losing streak.

Cleveland and Detroit split their two-game series in what was supposed to be a matchup of the two best teams in the American League Central. But both teams have gotten off to slow starts and Thursday's game was a battle to stay out of the basement.

The Indians entered the game with a league-low .232 batting average but pounded out a season-high 13 hits with every starter getting a hit.

"You look at the at-bats, the approach was better overall today," Wedge said. "Up and down they did a better job with the at-bats. Individually, they should feed off that and recognize what they did tonight."

"We had a good night tonight," Garko said. "Hopefully we can start clicking."

Garko's two-run homer extended the Indians' lead to 5-0. He blasted Justin Verlander's 1-2 pitch over the left field wall.

"Hitting is a strange thing," Garko said. "You can be completely lost and then have a few good at-bats and find it again."

Cleveland broke the game open with five runs off reliever Zach Miner in the fifth. Hafner followed Jamey Carroll's RBI triple with his third home run off the season to left field. Michaels added a two-run single later in the inning.

"Everybody contributed tonight," said Carroll, who had three RBI. "I just try to get out there and play hard and get things happening."

Carmona (2-1), who gave up eight walks in his last start, yielded only one run in 6 2/3 innings. He scattered seven hits and walked only one batter.

"I try to learn something from every start, whether it is good or bad," Carmona said through a translator. "I knew I had to make an adjustment. I just worked in the bullpen about making an adjustment."

Verlander's rough start to the season continued as the righthander allowed five runs in five innings. Verlander (0-3) struggled to get the ball over the plate - walking four batters and hitting two.

"My fastball was running so much, it was tough to keep it over the plate," Verlander said. "It was a bad day. If you look at my career, every four or five starts, my control isn't as good."

Verlander has won 35 games in his first two seasons, but is winless after his four starts and has an ERA of 7.03.

"I thought I have been throwing the ball decent but things haven't been going my way," he said. "Tonight was the first night I didn't throw the ball well."

The Indians scored three runs off of Verlander in the second to take a 3-0 lead. Verlander hit Garko to start the inning. After a Franklin Gutierrez double, Michaels hit a sac fly, Casey Blake doubled home a run and Carroll had an RBI infield single.

The game saw a total of five hit batters - two from Carmona and three from Detroit pitching. Warnings were issued after Carmona plunked Ramon Santiago and Gary Sheffield on back-to-back pitches in the sixth.