Indians top Tigers to snap skid
5/9/2010CLEVELAND — Andy Marte drove in three runs and the Cleveland Indians ended a 10-game losing streak against the Detroit Tigers with a 7-4 victory on Sunday.
Mark Grudzielanek had three hits and two RBIs for Cleveland, which picked up its first victory over Detroit since Aug. 2. The Indians had lost five straight overall.
Magglio Ordonez had two hits and two RBIs for Detroit, which couldn't overcome another rough outing by Max Scherzer. Austin Jackson had two hits and scored twice.
Ordonez doubled in Jackson and rookie Brennan Boesch hit a tying sacrifice fly in the fifth, but Cleveland went ahead in the bottom half before adding two more in the seventh.
Grudzielanek hit a tiebreaking RBI single off Scherzer (1-3) in the fifth and singled in another run in the seventh to make it 6-4. Marte added a sacrifice fly for Cleveland's final run.
Chris Perez, the Indians' fifth pitcher, worked the ninth for his fifth save in seven chances. The right-hander gave up a single and walk before retiring three straight.
Scherzer gave up five runs and nine hits in five innings. The right-hander has a 14.54 ERA over his last 13 innings.
Mitch Talbot (4-2) allowed four runs over five innings for his fourth win in five starts since April 16.
Cleveland scored four times in the second to take a 4-1 lead. Russell Branyan drew a leadoff walk and went to third on a single by Grudzielanek. Marte, hitting .182, slammed a ball high off the wall in left-center that just missed being a home run and bounced back over the head of center fielder Jackson.
Lou Marson drove in Marte with an infield single and eventually came around to score on a two-out infield single by Shin-Soo Choo.
Miguel Cabrera hit an RBI single in the third to trim Cleveland's lead to 4-2.
It was Talbot's shortest start since he worked five innings in a 4-2 loss in his Indians debut in Detroit on April 10. The right-hander was acquired in a trade with Tampa Bay in December.