The Indians have lost 14 of their last 16 games against the Tigers at Comerica Park. That includes Saturday's 5-2 defeat.
Cleveland Indians starter Josh Tomlin pitches against the Detroit Tigers in the second inning of a baseball game Saturday in Detroit. DETROIT -- The Indians gave rookie right-hander Josh Tomlin nine days of rest to make sure he doesn't get over pitched this season.
It was hard to tell if the extra rest did Tomlin much good Saturday night as the Tigers beat the Indians, 5-2, at Comerica Park. The good news is Tomlin went six innings. The bad news is he allowed five runs while doing it.
Tomlin (1-3, 3.86) lost his third straight start after winning his big-league debut July 27 against the Yankees. He hasn't pitched as poorly as his record suggests. Saturday night he needed some help from the offense, but it never came.
Max Scherzer (9-9, 3.73) held the Indians to two runs, one earned, over seven innings. He struck out eight and allowed four hits.
Phil Coke and Jose Valverde put the Indians out of their misery. Valverde earned his 24th save.
The Indians finished with four hits. In Friday's 6-0 loss to the Tigers, they managed three hits. The Tribe has lost 12 of its last 17 games.
The Tigers put the game away with two runs in the fifth for a 5-2 lead.
Don Kelly, who had four hits Friday, opened the inning with a homer to right. Austin Jackson, who owns Indians pitchers this season, followed with a double. Tomlin, making his first start since Aug. 11, retired the next two batters and intentionally walked Miguel Cabrera.
Brennan Boesch burned him with an RBI double.
The Indians and Tigers combined for three errors in the first. The Tigers emerged from the rubble with a 2-1 lead.
The Tribe took a 1-0 lead off Scherzer when Shin-Soo Choo reached on a two-out error by Will Rhymes at second base, stole second and scored when right fielder Boesch botched Travis Hafner's sinking liner to right for the second error.
Jackson, who entered the game hitting .407 against the Indians this season, opened the first with a double. He went to third on a sac-bunt and scored on Ryan Raburn's double past third. After Tomlin intentionally walked Cabrera, Boesch sent what looked like a double play ball to short, but Asdrubal Cabrera got his feet mixed up and had to settle for the force at second.
Tomlin wild pitched Rayburn home to make it 2-1. Boesch went to second when catcher Chris Gimenez made an errant flip to Tomlin at the plate.
Hafner pulled the Indians into a 2-2 tie with a bases-loaded single in the third. It was the last time they advanced a runner past second.
The Tigers recaptured the lead on Brandon Inge's sac-fly in the fourth to score Cabrera, who doubled to start the inning.
Scherzer's win gave him a 1-6 record against the AL Central this year in 10 starts. The Indians beat him on July 16.
