CLEVELAND — Stuck in neutral since the first two games of the season, the Indians offense finally got into gear Thursday night at Progressive Field.
And it came at an opportune time.
In jeopardy of falling into sole possession of last place, defending Central Division champion Cleveland broke out the lumber to beat back the Tigers, 11-1, in front of 21,547 victory-starved fans.
The win snapped a three-game losing skid for the Indians, accounting for just their second victory in eight games and their fourth win in 10 games at home.
“It was a very strong collective effort tonight,” said Cleveland manager Eric Wedge, who called a team meeting prior to the game. “We just needed to get back to playing baseball like we do, and I thought that was much better tonight. The approach was definitely better today, overall.”
Cleveland’s offense entered the series finale with Detroit among the worst-hitting bunches in the big leagues, with the majors’ lowest slugging percentage (.340) and the American League’s flimsiest batting average (.232), scoring just over three runs a night since the second game of its season-opening series against the White Sox.
The fog was lifted early against Detroit ace Justin Verlander.
After failing with the bases loaded and one out in the first, the Indians returned to cash in during the second inning, scoring three times, then adding two more in the fifth to go up 5-0 on a Ryan Garko home run to left field.
The Indians entered the night with just two extra-base hits in their last four games, but had equaled that total through the first two innings. They finished the game with seven extra-base hits, as every starter had at least a hit, and seven of the nine reached base two times or more.
The run count and hit total (13) were season highs for Cleveland.
“We’ve just got to keep having quality at-bats,” Garko said. “You can’t always control the results, but I thought we did a good job with guys on base.”
The Indians chased Verlander in the fifth and put the game away in the sixth, scoring five times off Detroit reliever Zach Miner, two on a homer from Travis Hafner and two on a single from Jason Michaels. Michaels, who entered the game with just three hits in 33 at-bats on the year, reached base in three of four official at-bats, driving in three runs.
The output was more than enough for Indians starter Fausto Carmona, who succeeded where ace C.C. Sabathia failed once again.
A night after watching the Tigers bludgeon the left-hander, Carmona took charge early, shutting out Detroit on four hits through the first five innings.
The right-hander, who entered the night with the lowest ERA in the majors (2.26) since the second half of last year, allowed just a run on seven hits for the game, striking out two and walking one through 6 2/3 innings. He had walked 13 in his previous two outings, eight his last time out.
Carmona said a mechanical adjustment remedied the control problems.
“I worked hard in the bullpen to make sure my arm was behind my body,” said Carmona through interpreter and first base coach Luis Rivera. “I was concentrating on getting first-pitch strikes and getting ahead of hitters.”
It worked, with Carmona
(2-1, 1.96) leaving to rousing cheers from his hometown fans, the same crowd that has booed Sabathia lustily in his last two appearances at Progressive Field.
“Fausto set the tone tonight,” Wedge said. “He threw a great game. He threw the ball where he wanted to.”
That may or may not have included the two batters — Ramon Santiago and Gary Sheffield — Carmona hit consecutively in the sixth inning. Carmona said both were unintentional.
The two hit batsmen from Detroit came after Verlander had plunked Garko to lead off the second and Jason Michaels a batter after Garko went deep in the fifth.
Tigers reliever Bobby Seay tipped the scales in Detroit’s favor when he hit Grady Sizemore to lead off the seventh.
“I’m not going to comment on that,” Wedge said of the beanball brigade.
Rafael Betancourt made his first appearance as closer in place of an injured Joe Borowski, and though it wasn’t a save situation, he treated the crowd to a rare 1-2-3 ninth inning, striking out Clete Thomas for the final out.
Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.

TONIGHT

WHO: Cleveland at Minnesota
TIME: 8:10
WHERE: Metrodome, Minneapolis
PITCHERS: Lee (2-0, 0.61 ERA) vs. Liriano (0-1, 7.71)
TV/RADIO: SportsTime Ohio; WEOL 930-AM, WTAM 1100-AM

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