 gave up four hits, struck out eight and walked none. This was his 224th start since being drafted out of UCLA, including 166 in the majors.The 28-year-old righty had been 0-5 in his previous eight starts before dominating the Tigers in his third career complete game. Harold Castro hit a leadoff triple in the second, but Bauer stranded him with a popup, a groundball and a strikeout.Rookie Oscar Mercado drove in four runs and Jason Kipnis homered and drove in three. The Indians are 18-7 against Detroit since the beginning of last season and outscored them 25-6 in this set at Comerica Park.Spencer Turnbull (3-6) allowed a season-high six earned runs on 10 hits and two walks in five innings.The Tigers have lost 17 of 19 at home and are 7-22 overall since May 13.The Indians took a 1-0 lead in the first on back-to-back, two-out doubles by Carlos Santana and Kipnis. Cleveland added three more in the third when Francisco Lindor doubled and scored on Mercado's hit-and-run infield single before Kipnis homered.Mercado's two-run single gave the Indians a 6-0 lead in the fourth and he added an RBI double in the sixth.TRAINER'S ROOMIndians: RHP Mike Clevinger is scheduled to start Monday in Texas. He has been on the injured list since April 8 with an upper-back strain.Tigers: Miguel Cabrera, who is limited to designated hitter duties due to knee problems, had a regularly scheduled day off on Sunday.BEATING UP ON THE TIGERSMercado became the fourth Indians player to drive it at least four runs in a game this season. Two of them were in the weekend series, as Jake Bauers did it on Friday. The Indians also had the ninth cycle in franchise history (Bauers) and their first straight steal of home since 2005 (Leonys Martin) during the series.WEATHER CHANGES PLANSThe game started on time, but the heavy morning rain did lead to the odd sight of the Indians bullpen working hard while Bauer was pitching the first inning. Adam Plutko, scheduled to start Wednesday in Texas, had to move his bullpen session to the beginning of the game.UP NEXTIndians: Cleveland travels to Texas for a three-game series starting on Monday. Clevinger (1-0, 0.00) will return to face Lance Lynn (7-4, 4.40) of the Rangers.Tigers: Detroit will be off on Monday while traveling to Pittsburgh for a two-game visit. Daniel Norris (2-5, 4.52) is scheduled to pitch the opener for the Tigers, while the Pirates haven't announced a starter.---More MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/-Sports)
Indians' Bauer looks to continue resurgence against TigersFLMThe Detroit Tigers are having enough trouble generating runs. The last thing they need is to face Cleveland Indians right-hander Trevor Bauer when he's rounding into form.But that is the predicament confronting the Tigers heading into their weekend series finale against the visiting Indians on Sunday. Cleveland has won the first two games of the series.The Indians' 4-2 win on Saturday was aided by Leonys Martin's steal of home, the first straight steal of home by an Indians player since Grady Sizemore did it in 2005.Bauer had an 0-5 record and 5.52 ERA during a seven-start stretch prior to his last outing on Tuesday, in which he held Cincinnati to one run in 7 2/3 innings.Bauer (4-6, 3.71 ERA), who is still looking for his first victory since April 30, wound up with a no-decision. The main blemish in the game was five walks."I mean, the results are good, obviously," Bauer told MLB.com afterward. "I don't think I was nearly as sharp (Tuesday) as I was my last outing. But I've been pitching well in my last four -- got like a 3.1 (ERA) over my last four starts." Bauer has faced the Tigers 17 times, including 16 starts. He's 8-6 with a 5.67 ERA in those outings.However, he won all four of his starts last season against them while posting a 1.23 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 29 1/3 innings. Detroit got a measure of revenge against Bauer on April 10 this season, however, handing him a loss while collecting four runs and 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings.Manager Terry Francona feels that Bauer showed better concentration and trust in his pitches during his start against the Reds."I thought he competed like crazy," Francona said. "Thought he shook (catcher Roberto Perez) off less than he has in the past, which I think is a good thing. ... He followed the glove a lot better than he has." Right-hander Spencer Turnbull (3-5, 2.78) will oppose Bauer. Turnbull is also coming off a strong performance, as he held Kansas City scoreless over six innings on Tuesday. The Tigers wound up losing 3-2, though he did not receive a decision.Turnbull made an in-game adjustment to keep the Royals off the scoreboard, using his curveball with greater frequency."It was the best my curveball has been in a while, for sure," Turnbull told the Detroit News. "I had been off with it a little bit, but I found it (Tuesday) and it's a good thing I did. The slider was not good early on. I found it later and threw some pretty good ones, but for the first four innings, I didn't feel like I threw a good one." The Tigers are playing it cautious with the rookie, who has been a pleasant surprise in an otherwise drab season."You can see when a pitcher is laboring a little and starting to force pitches," manager Ron Gardenhire told reporters. "But we were thinking, 'Let's let him go and let's see what happens.' But when you talk about it, you don't want to see the kid get hurt or overextended. We're trying to do the right thing by this kid. We really like him." Turnbull started once against the Indians this season and took the loss while allowing three runs on eight hits in four innings at home back on April 11.--Field Level Media
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