Cleveland, OH – Torii Hunter finished a single shy of the cycle as the Detroit Tigers cruised past the Cleveland Indians, 9-4, in the second tilt of a four-game series at Progressive Field.
Hunter finished 3-for-5 with a two-run home run and three RBI. Miguel Cabrera had a two-run homer as well while Prince Fielder added a solo shot. Austin Jackson and Jhonny Peralta each contributed an RBI for the Tigers, winners of five in a row.
"When a team that's trailing you, breathing down your neck, it's important to try to distance yourself from them," said Hunter afterward.
Anibal Sanchez (7-5) came off the 15-day disabled list prior to Saturday's outing and was sharp in his first start since June 15. He allowed just one run on three hits and a walk with four strikeouts over five innings.
After being recalled for the second time in a week, the result for Carlos Carrasco (0-4) was the same, if not worse, than his previous start. He was tagged for seven runs -- six earned -- on 10 hits over just 3 1/3 innings.
Ryan Raburn connected on a two-run homer and Nick Swisher had a solo shot for the Indians, who have lost four straight.
"We've come out flat the last two games, definitely haven't been playing the way when we're winning games," said Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis. "We're going to look to change that and do that tomorrow."
The Tigers scored four in the third, all with two outs.
Cabrera crushed a two-run homer to left-center field, his 27th of the season. Jackson scored on the home run after a line-drive double. Two pitches later, Fielder stroked a solo shot to right-center. Victor Martinez continued the rally with a double and crossed the plate on Peralta's single up the middle.
Cleveland got a run back in the home half of the inning when Lonnie Chisenhall, Drew Stubbs and Michael Bourn hit consecutive singles. Chisenhall scored from third on Bourn's infield base hit.
Andy Dirks and Alex Avila hit consecutive singles to start the fourth. Ramon Santiago pushed a sacrifice bunt to Carrasco, who tried to get Dirks at third, but his throw was wide and allowed Dirks to score and the runners to advance an extra base. Jackson's sacrifice fly plated Avila. Hunter doubled down the third-base line to give Detroit a 7-1 lead.
Hunter extended the lead to eight with a two-run home run off Matt Albers in the sixth. Jackson singled in front of Hunter to get on base.
Swisher connected on a two-out solo blast in the sixth to make it a seven-run game.
Stubbs doubled off Darin Downs to keep the Indians alive in the ninth. In Raburn's first plate appearance of the day, he slammed a fastball over the left-field wall for the final margin.
Game Notes
Cabrera, Fielder, Peralta, Hunter, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander are the Tigers 2013 All-Stars, while Justin Masterson and Kipnis are Cleveland's selections ... The last Tigers cycle came on August 1, 2006 by Carlos Guillen ... Omar Infante missed a third straight game with a left shin contusion ... Kipnis snapped a 16-game hitting streak, going 0-for-4 ... Cleveland has lost seven straight to the Tigers ... Detroit finished 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position, while Cleveland was 2-for-8.
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