Indians batter the Tigers' pitching staff to win opener of second half.
UPDATED: 11:13 p.m.
Trevor Crowe greets Andy Marte at home plate after Marte's two-run homer in the fourth inning gave the Indians a 4-2 lead over the Detroit Tigers Friday night at Progressive Field.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A four-day rest did the Indians' bodies and minds plenty of good.
The Tribe stormed out of the All-Star break with a purpose, thumping the contending Tigers, 8-2, Friday night at Progressive Field. Paid attendance: 22,295, including a season-best walk-up of 4,764.
The Indians (35-54) belied their last-place standing with a fundamentally sound performance. They had staggered into the break as losers of seven of 10. Five of the Tribe's 10 hits went for extra bases. The club has at least one extra-base hit in 38 consecutive games.
Intermittently sloppy Detroit slipped to 48-39 overall, 16-26 on the road. It remained second in the Central Division.
Andy Marte and Austin Kearns cracked two-run homers in support of right-hander Jake Westbrook (6-5, 4.67). Westbrook, potential trade bait, gave up two runs on five hits in 5 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out five.
A Los Angeles Dodgers scout was among those in attendance. The scout indicated he also would be filing a report on Fausto Carmona, who pitches the first game of a day-night doubleheader Saturday.
Westbrook did not exactly dazzle, but made pitches to minimize damage. He tiptoed through the tar pits in the first, giving up just one run despite throwing 32 pitches.
"Very nice job by Jake," Indians manager Manny Acta said. "To have any chance of beating those guys, you have to stop the traffic in front of the three guys in the middle. Jake did a good job of that."
Acta referred to the heart of the Detroit order -- No. 3 hitter Magglio Ordonez (.315), cleanup man Miguel Cabrera (.346) and No. 5 Brennan Boesch (.336).
Westbrook leaned heavily on his defense, which included catcher Carlos Santana erasing two runners attempting to steal, and the bullpen. Four Tribe relievers allowed a combined two hits.
"Damon is a tough guy to strike out, so it worked out well that he hit it to me," Westbrook said. "Then I needed a big strikeout and got it."
Acta hooked Westbrook for Joe Smith, who walked Cabrera. Lefty Tony Sipp replaced Smith and whiffed Boesch.
The Tribe carried the momentum into the sixth and piled on against two relievers. Santana's sacrifice fly, Travis Hafner's RBI single and Kearns' homer accounted for the four runs.
Detroit took a 1-0 lead in the first. Jackson led off with a single on the 10th pitch of his at-bat. The hard-hit ball bounced off second baseman Jayson Nix and rolled into short-center.
After Damon popped up, Jackson stole second. Ordonez struck out. Cabrera, chasing the AL triple crown, lined an RBI single to deep left. He extended his hitting streak to 20 games.
Cabrera entered hitting .346 with 22 homers and 77 RBI in 83 games. In his career against Cleveland, he was at .321 (63-for-196) with 15 homers and 43 RBI.
Boesch grounded to second on Westbrook's 32nd pitch.
With two outs in the bottom of the first, Tigers righty Max Scherzer walked Santana and Hafner. Kearns flied to right.
The Indians pulled ahead by scoring twice in the second. Matt LaPorta led off with a walk and scored on Trevor Crowe's triple down the left-field line. The ball bounced off the side wall and away from left fielder Boesch.
Jason Donald grounded into the hole at shortstop, where Ramon Santiago fielded the ball cleanly and threw low to second baseman Carlos Guillen. Guillen dug it out to get the force, but Donald easily beat the relay. Credit Donald with the RBI as Crowe scored.
After Detroit tied the score, 2-2, in the fourth, the Indians regained the lead in their half. Crowe led off with a double to center. Marte followed with a full-count blast over the wall in left. Scherzer's fastball caught too much of the plate.
Donald doubled and moved to third on a grounder, but Nix struck out and Santana fouled out.
Crowe finished 2-for-3 with the two extra-base hits and a walk. He also reached on a wild pitch after striking out.
Scherzer gave up four runs on five hits in five innings. In his previous four starts, he was 3-0 with a 0.98 ERA.
Hafner exited in favor of pinch-hitter Shelley Duncan in the eighth.
"Travis is fine," Acta said. "We had a nice lead, and I just wanted to get Shelley that at-bat."