DETROIT -- After quite a few good games, the Indians simply didn’t have it Friday night in the series opener against the Tigers.
Or at least starting pitcher Corey Kluber didn’t.
And when the starting pitcher doesn’t have it, it makes it tough -- especially against a lineup as relentless and formidable as Detroit’s.
The Tigers provide no breathers, and they took advantage of Kluber’s struggles.
Prince Fielder and Miguel Cabrera both hit home runs to remember in Detroit’s 10-4 win. Fielder’s went 460 feet, the same distance as Mark Reynolds bleacher shot in Cleveland earlier in the week.
Cabrera hit a first-pitch blast almost as long to left, this one a three-run homer.
Game, set, match.
“This team and that lineup will make you pay for mistakes,” Indians manager Terry Francona said.
Especially at home in Comerica Park, where Detroit is averaging 6.5 runs in 15 games and Cabrera is hitting .431. And where the Tigers have won 29 of the last 37 games against the Indians.
Cleveland scored four off Max Scherzer and Nick Swisher had a triple, double and single, but overall the Indians had a tough time. Francona said Kluber was sharp coming out of the bullpen, but come game time he was anything but.
The Tigers had symmetry with three runs in the second, one in the third, three in the fourth and one more in the fifth. Kluber gave up eight runs, all earned, in 4 2/3 innings.
“I lost my delivery,” he said. “I was doing some stuff out there, getting ahead of myself, getting jerky.”
That caused him to fall behind, and when he fell behind he had to come in with pitches. When he did, Detroit made him pay. The Tigers hit double digits in hits (15) and runs (10).
The Indians were not at their best. Carlos Santana dropped a pop-up behind the plate, Lonnie Chisenhall couldn’t handle a ground ball and Asdrubal Cabrera got caught between first and second when the Tigers could not catch a pop-up he put in short right.
The Indians had their own caper with a pop-up in the second, as Michael Bourn broke back on a short pop to right-center, Drew Stubbs could not catch up to it and Jason Kipnis could not catch it over his head.
But Francona and Stubbs both said the ball was simply hit to the wrong spot.
“He had a better attempt on it than what we could have done, trying to dive or whatever,” Stubbs said. “Probably would have dove headfirst right into him.”
“That was almost a great play,” Francona.
It wasn’t a great game. But coming off 10 wins in 11 games, the Indians might have been due a clunker.
“They put it on us pretty good,” Swisher said.
“There’s a lot more games,” Francona said. “When you make mistakes, learn from them and move on to the next day. When you win keep it going and when you lose play better.”
Which pretty much sums it up.
