Indians Confidential

It’s amazing to think that Cliff Lee is the Indians MVP at this point of the season, but that fact came back to the forefront last night in Detroit as he pitched well enough to earn his 10th win of the season as the Indians topped the Tigers 8-2. The win wraps up the teams longest road trip of the season, an 11-game outing in which they went 5-6, hitting KC, Texas and Detroit.

Lee is the first AL pitcher to win 10 games, he went 5 innings, allowing two runs on six hits. The reason for the short outing was the fact the game was hit by a 57-minute rain delay. The bullpen finally did a nice job after blowing a game Saturday, as Rafael Perez, Rafael Betancourt and Masa Kobayashi went a combined four innings, allowing one hit total and walking three, striking out two.

The offense got off to a fast start, as Ryan Garko hit a three-run blast to deep left off of Tigers starter Dontrelle Willis in the first inning to give the Tribe a quick 3-0 lead. The team chased Willis in the second, as Kelly Shoppach hit a two-run homer to make it 5-0, then Garko got hit by a pitch to bring in a run, Jhonny Peralta singled to score a run, and Shin Soo-Choo hit a sac fly to make it 8-0.

Willis lasted just 1.1 innings, allowing 8 runs on three hits. He has been a big bust so far for the Tigers, has he’s been hurt, and is carrying an 0-1 mark now with an ERA of 10.32. He has started just four games, and has pitched only 11.1 innings, allowing 13 earned runs on seven hits. The Indians only had six hits, but were on cruise control most of the night due to the early lead that they carried as well as their bullpen.

New second basemen Josh Barfield batted ninth, and did little at the plate, going 0-for-4 with a fly out to center, foul out to right, fly out to deep left, and ground out to third. Grady Sizemore got a rare night off, as Franklin Gutierrez started in center and hit lead off.

Tonight the Indians come back home for the first time since late May, as they start the first of six at Progressive Field vs the Twins and then a weekend interleague series vs the Padres. C.C. Sabathia, who’s 3-and-8 with a 4.81 ERA, will start for the Indians. The Twins will send out Scott Baker, who’s 2-and-0 with a 4.03 ERA. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.