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Pair of disappointing teams meet when Indians face Tigers

Aug 25, 2008 - 1:09 PM Cleveland (62-67) at Detroit (64-66) 7:05 pm. EDT

DETROIT (Ticker) -- The Cleveland Indians were expected to compete for the American League Central pennant. Instead, like the Detroit Tigers, they are playing for pride.

The underachieving Indians try to extend their season-high winning streak to eight games on Monday against the equally disappointing Tigers.

Cleveland reached the American League Championship Series last season, but injuries to designated hitter Travis Hafner, catcher Victor Martinez and righthander Fausto Carmona foiled any plans they had of returning to the postseason.

Franklin Gutierrez's go-ahead RBI single in the ninth help the Indians to a 4-3 victory over Texas on Sunday. The Indians are starting to play well having won 13 of 16, but are 12 games out of first in the AL Central.

"We want to finish as high up in the standings as we can," Cleveland manager Eric Wedge said. "It's pride, it's competitiveness and we want to make sure we keep getting better."

Zach Johnson (0-0, 5.17 ERA), who was acquired in the deal that sent ace CC Sabathia to Milwaukee, makes his third start for Cleveland. The lefthander allowed five runs - four earned - and seven hits in seven innings of a 8-5 win over Kansas City on Wednesday.

Detroit is in a similar position as Cleveland. The Tigers added slugger Miguel Cabrera and lefthander Dontrelle Willis in the offseason, but stumbled out of the gates and never recovered. Detroit is 10 1/2 games out of first.

Armando Galarraga (12-4, 3.17) has been one of the lone bright spots, and will try four his fourth straight win. Galarraga is 3-0 with a 3.57 ERA in three starts against the Indians this season.