CLEVELAND — There were fireworks after the game Friday night at Progressive Field — and during.
Frustration from seasons gone wrong boiled onto the field between the Indians and Tigers, with a bench-clearing brawl earmarking Cleveland’s dramatic 6-5 victory.
Indians starting pitcher Fausto Carmona and cantankerous Detroit designated hitter Gary Sheffield were in the middle of the brouhaha that arrived with one out in the top of the seventh.
Carmona had just given up the lead on Miguel Cabrera’s second two-run home run, when two batters later, he hit Sheffield in the left elbow with an 0-1 fastball.
Sheffield did not react well, walking slowly to first base, while staring at Carmona with his bat still in hand.
Not to be intimidated, the 6-foot-4, 230-pound Carmona stared back at the 6-0, 215-pound, muscle-bound Sheffield, and before delivering his first pitch to Brandon Inge, threw over to first.
Apparently riled by the pickoff attempt, Sheffield motioned for Carmona to throw the ball to the plate, with Carmona barking something at him and walking toward first as Sheffield took off for the mound.
Carmona and Sheffield met in a bear hug to the right of the mound, with Carmona throwing a flurry of rabbit punches, while both sets of teammates joined the melee. Sheffield emerged from the fracas with a noticeable welt under his eye, but Carmona was unscathed.
Along with Carmona and Sheffield, Victor Martinez and Tigers second baseman Placido Polanco were also ejected.
Carmona refused to talk about the incident, while Sheffield wouldn’t stop, saying that the right-hander has targeted him before.
“I try to play the game the right way,” Sheffield said. “Just because you’re upset someone hit a home run, don’t take it out on me. I don’t care who you are. It’s the third time this year (he’s hit me). Three strikes and you’re out. If he does it a fourth time, it’s going to get more violent.
“He called me out and I answered the call.”
The record shows that Carmona has only hit Sheffield one other time this season, April 17 at Progressive Field.  
Sensing something might happen after Sheffield was hit, Martinez got in between him and the mound.
“If he wants to do something, why didn’t he charge right then?” Martinez said. “Who’s he, telling Fausto to throw the ball to the plate? Just shut your mouth and keep playing the game. What are you trying to do, just get attention?
“Everybody in the league knows Fausto pitches in. He’s not tying to hit anybody.”
Martinez was one of the more active participants in the brawl, helping to tackle Sheffield from behind, then motioning at the Tigers’ DH to bring it on as he was being held back by teammates.
Sheffield had more angry words for Martinez than he did for Carmona.
“I don’t know how many years he has, but his act is tired,” Sheffield said. “He doesn’t want any part of me, trust me. Let me know when and where you want to meet and I guarantee you, he won’t be there.
“It tells me he is young and doesn’t understand the game. Somebody needs to teach him. The last time I got hit, he was chirping. He chirps a lot.”
Sheffield said he watched the video of the brawl in the visiting clubhouse to find out which Indians were taking their cuts at him in the pile. He came up with Asdrubal Cabrera and Rafael Perez.
“I know who they are and they’re going to have to deal with me,” Sheffield said, referring to Perez as ‘that skinny left-hander in the bullpen.’ I better not get hit on purpose by this team again, period.”
The fireworks weren’t limited to the fighting circle.
Home runs accounted for nine of the 11 runs on the night, with Shin-Soo Choo equaling Cabrera by going deep twice and driving in four of Cleveland’s runs.
Choo’s solo shot off Armando Galarraga in the opening inning scored the first run of the game, with Cabrera’s first two-run blast giving the Tigers their first lead in the fourth.
Cleveland tied it again with a one-out solo homer from Grady Sizemore in the sixth — Sizemore’s 33rd of the year. It was his 32nd homer as a center fielder, equaling the franchise record for a single-season by a player at his position.
Another bomb from Cabrera returned the lead to the Tigers in the seventh, with Detroit extending it to 5-2 on a sacrifice fly in the eighth.
That set the stage for more heroics from Choo, who tied the game at 5 in the bottom of the inning with a three-run homer off Casey Fossum. Choo also recorded his 87th hit, the most ever in a single season by a Korean-born big leaguer.
The Indians won it in dramatic fashion in the ninth.
Pinch hitter Kelly Shoppach was hit by a pitch and replaced by pinch runner Josh Barfield, who advanced to third on a one-out single from pinch hitter Ryan Garko.
Jamey Carroll followed with a fly ball to right that scored Barfield with the winning run, sailing over the head of right fielder Magglio Ordonez, who was playing in for a chance at an out at the plate.
Carroll said the fight ignited the Indians.
“Anytime you run out on the field, you get a little rush of adrenaline,” Carroll said. “You get a little fired up. We got loose real quick. It definitely got us fired up a little bit.”
Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.

TONIGHT

WHO: Cleveland vs. Detroit
TIME: 7:05
WHERE: Progressive Field
PITCHERS: Sowers (3-8, 5.70 ERA) vs. Verlander (10-16, 4.78)
TV/RADIO: Channel 3; WTAM 1100-AM
 

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