Cleveland Indians slug 5 home runs, sweep Tigers: Recap and MVP

The Cleveland Indians finished off a three-game sweep of the Tigers Sunday with a 8-5 victory in Detroit.

The Cleveland Indians used the long ball Sunday to defeat the Detroit Tigers as they smacked five home runs at Comerica Park to finish off a weekend sweep of their division foe.

The Indians struck first blood in the top of the second off of Tigers starter Michael Fulmer as Franmil Reyes slugged his second home run of the weekend to put the Tribe on top 1-0.

Cleveland would add onto their early lead in the top of the third as Francisco Lindor clubbed a two-run shot to right field to push the Indian lead to 3-0.

Detroit would not back down; however, as in the bottom of the third, the Tigers got to Adam Plutko. Niko Goodrum ripped an RBI single to score Grayson Greiner and Miguel Cabrera ripped a two-run single to even the score and knock Plutko out of the game.

Cleveland would regain the lead in the top of the fifth off Tigers reliever Tyler Alexander as Jose Ramirez hit a solo shot for his fifth home run of the season and to give the Indians a 4-3 lead.

The Indians lead would be short-lived; however, as in the bottom of the fifth Cabrera hit an RBI single off Dominic Leone to tie the game at four.

Cleveland would take the lead for good in the top of the sixth as Sandy Leon smacked the Indians’ fourth home run of the game with a solo shot off Tigers reliever John Schreiber to put the Tribe back on top 5-4. Later in the inning Ramirez scored Delino DeShields with a ground ball while Lindor smacked an RBI double off Gregory Soto to score Cesar Hernandez to push the lead to 7-4.

The Indians would continue to pour it on in the top of the seventh as Reyes slugged his second solo shot of the game and third of the series with a 453-foot bomb to straightaway center to extend the Cleveland lead to 8-4.

Detroit would add a run in the bottom of the ninth as Victor Reyes hit a one-run single off Nick Wittgren, but it’d be too little too late as the Indians closed out an 8-5 victory.

With the win, the Indians improved to 13-9 on the season as they remain locked into an AL Wild Card and are just a half game behind the Minnesota Twins in the AL Central standings.. They also extended their winning streak over Detroit to 20 games dating back to last season.

Meanwhile, the Tigers dropped to 9-10, falling below .500 for the first time since losing on opening day to the Reds.

MVP, Francisco Lindor: Four-time all-star Francisco Lindor finally put together the breakout game he needed. The Indians shortstop entered the game batting .212 on the season, but with a 3-5performance improved his average by 21 points to .233. Those three hits produced three Cleveland runs as Lindor smacked a two-run home run and a run-scoring double in the victory.

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On Deck: The Indians will have a day off Monday before opening a three-game series in Pittsburgh against the woeful Pirates on Tuesday. Pittsburgh has baseball’s worst record at 4-14 and have not played since Friday as their games Saturday and Sunday against the Reds were postponed after a Cincinnati player tested positive for COVID-19.