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August 12, 2011

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Indians close gap on Tigers

THE Cleveland Indians pounded out hit after hit against Detroit on their way to a 10-3 win on Wednesday that closed the gap on the division-leading Tigers.

Following a marathon 14-inning win in the series-opener on Tuesday, the Indians had 18 hits to win their 13th in a row over the Tigers at home and pull themselves within two games of the American League Central leaders.

Cleveland's Jason Kipnis stole the show with a 5-for-5 performance that included a two-run home run in the second inning that padded the Indians' lead to 4-0.

"It was a little bit infectious today. Everyone was hitting," Kipnis said. "It went down the order, one through nine, and everyone contributed so it was a lot of fun to hit tonight."

Rookie Kipnis added another RBI in the fourth as Cleveland scored four times to chase Detroit starter Rick Porcello (11-7), who allowed eight runs on 11 hits.

Ubaldo Jimenez made his second start with the Indians since being acquired in a trade, and earned his first win with his new team after allowing three runs in eight innings.

Jimenez, who won 19 games for the Colorado Rockies last season, had taken a disappointing no-decision in his debut for Cleveland on Friday.

"I commanded my fastball much better tonight," Jimenez said. "From the first pitch I was able to throw everything down in the zone."

Clawed back

Jimenez allowed three runs in the fourth, where the Tigers clawed back to within 4-3, but he regained his form to keep the visitors at bay.

Cleveland's Kosuke Fukudome, who was hit by a pitch on Tuesday that brought home the winning run in the 14th, had an RBI double and went 3-for-5.

The Indians scored their final two runs in the sixth where Travis Hafner had an RBI and finished with two hits.

In St. Petersburg, Sam Fuld hit a game-tying triple and then scored on an errant throw to complete Tampa Bay's five-run ninth inning which lifted the Rays 8-7 over Kansas City.

Fuld hit a drive to right center off Royals closer Joakim Soria (5-5) and wound up scoring the winning run when second baseman Johnny Giavotella made a bad relay throw to third. The Royals had led 7-3 in the ninth after Melky Cabrera hit a three-run homer with two outs off Jake McGee (1-1).

 

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