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Shoppach, Carmona lead Indians to 10th straight win

Aug 28, 2008 - 3:41 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- Kelly Shoppach homered and drove in three runs to propel the Cleveland Indians to their 10th straight victory, a 9-7 triumph over the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday.

Shin-Soo Choo added three hits, including his seventh homer, and Grady Sizemore singled in a pair of runs as the Indians completed a three-game sweep of their American League Central rivals.

The win helped the Indians match their longest winning streak since April 3-13, 2002. The last time they won more than 10 in a row was an 11-game run in 1983. Oddly, it was last month that the Indians finished up a 10-game losing streak, the low-water mark of what has been a disappointing season.

"The makeup of the guys in this clubhouse is that they can have a 10-game losing streak and put it all behind them," Shoppach said. "We play the game. We show up every day expecting to win, no matter where we are in the standings or whether we won or not the day before."

Wednesday's triumph also moved Cleveland (65-67) within two games of the .500 mark, where it has not been since May 18.

The Tigers jumped all over Fausto Carmona (7-5) in the first two innings, but the 24-year-old righthander settled down thereafter. He tossed six innings, giving up four runs and seven hits while striking out three and walking three.

"I thought Fausto got better as the game wore on," Cleveland manager Eric Wedge said. "He did a very good job of settling down."

The Indians took the lead on Shoppach's two-run blast in the fourth inning and never looked back. After Choo's two-run shot in the seventh gave them a 7-4 cushion, the Indians kept piling on as they opened up the ninth with four straight singles off Bobby Seay and Kyle Farnsworth to build a 9-5 lead.

"We're not doing enough to win," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "The effort was there and we tried to the very end. It was the add-on runs that did us in. We just couldn't shut them down after the fifth inning."

"All that matters is coming through in certain situations in the game," Sizemore said. "Now we've got different guys coming through every night, getting big RBIs and hitting in the clutch."

Cleveland needed the additional runs as Magglio Ordonez belted a two-run homer in the ninth after Curtis Granderson reached base for the fifth time on a fielder's choice, drawing Detroit within two. But Miguel Cabrera, who went 0-for-5, struck out for the third time to end the game.

Justin Verlander (10-14), who had not allowed an earned run in his previous two starts, struck out eight but yielded five runs and seven hits in six frames. Verlander has given up at least five runs in five of his last seven starts.

"I felt the best that I have all year tonight," Verlander said. "I had good stuff. It's funny, I had nothing in Kansas City in my last start and won, and tonight I lost."

Granderson, who went 3-for-4, got the Tigers on the board early with his 16th home run, a solo shot in the first that tied the game at 1-1. After Sizemore put Cleveland back in front with a two-run single in the second, Brandon Inge, Ramon Santiago and Granderson delivered consecutive run-scoring base hits in the bottom half to give Detroit a 4-3 edge.

Ordonez had two hits and three RBI for the Tigers, who have dropped four straight and fallen to 9-16 this month.