 went six innings, allowing two hits on a Willi Castro homer and a Jeimer Candelario double. The 23-year-old right-hander notched his first strikeout on three pitches to future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera in the first.Santana's two-out double came off reliever John Schreiber and gave Cleveland a 3-1 lead and Roberto Perez followed with an RBI single. Carlos Santana had a sacrifice fly in the seventh and Cesar Hernandez singled in the Indians' final run in the eighth.Matthew Boyd (0-4) pitched a season-high 5 1/3 innings for Detroit but remained winless in seven starts dating to Sept. 22, 2019. The left-hander surrendered two runs - both on Santana's shot to the gap in left-center - and struck out six.McKenzie held the Tigers hitless until Castro blasted a 445-foot homer in the fourth. The 6-foot-5, 165-pounder had not pitched in an actual game since Aug. 30, 2018 and missed all of last season with a strained right rotator cuff and right pectoral strain.Francisco Lindor and Hernandez each had three hits for Cleveland, which has won 21 of its last 22 games against Detroit.First base coach Sandy Alomar Jr. managed the Indians with Terry Francona recovering from a medical procedure for a gastrointestinal ailment. The 61-year-old underwent the procedure Friday at Cleveland Clinic and has missed 16 games this season.McKenzie filled a hole in the rotation created when Mike Clevinger and Zach Plesac were demoted to the alternate training site after violating league rules by leaving the team hotel in Chicago, risking exposure to COVID-19.Clevinger and Plesac are eligible to be recalled next week, but the Indians have been noncommittal on the subject.DOWN TO THE FARMIndians OF Bradley Zimmer was optioned to the alternate training site to make room for McKenzie. He made the opening day roster, but only logged 37 at-bats and hit .162. ''It was a hard move because Zimmer had a great camp,'' Alomar said. ''But with Domingo Santana swinging the bat better, there weren't going to be many opportunities here.'' TRAINER'S ROOMTigers: RHP Ivan Nova (right triceps tendinitis) is still experiencing soreness and has yet to resume throwing. He was placed on the 10-day IL on Aug. 15.Indians: OF Delino DeShields (left hip soreness) exited the game in the sixth inning and was replaced in center by Greg Allen. DeShields went 0 for 2.UP NEXTTigers: LHP Tarik Skubal (0-1, 18.00 ERA) allowed four runs over two innings in his big league debut Aug. 18 against the White Sox. He struck out one and walked one in starting Detroit's 10-4 loss at Chicago.Indians: RHP Carlos Carrasco (2-2, 3.71 ERA) makes his fourth home start of the season in the three-game series finale. He is 2-1 with a 2.76 ERA at Progressive Field this year, allowing five runs in 16 1/3 innings.---More MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/-Sports)
Losing streaks over, Tigers try to top Indians againThe Detroit Tigers look to further distance themselves from two gaudy losing streaks when they face the host Cleveland Indians again on Saturday.The Tigers rode the momentum of a seven-run fourth inning to a 10-5 victory over the Indians in the opener of a three-game series on Friday. The win snapped a nine-game skid overall for Detroit, as well as a string of 20 consecutive setbacks against Cleveland dating back to a 4-1 triumph on April 10, 2019."It's just basically getting that 20-game monkey off your back, and then nine, how many we lost in a row this year. Nine?" Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said. "We needed a win more than anything else, it's not even about all that other stuff. After the win, yeah, we talked about it. We just needed to play a good ballgame and get a win for everybody to feel good about themselves."It's good we got all that other stuff out of the way, though, because those kind of hang over you." On Saturday, the Tigers will look to produce both a second straight win overall and a second consecutive victory versus Cleveland.Jonathan Schoop belted a two-run homer to highlight his four-hit performance in the series opener. Schoop has two homers among his 10 hits over his past five games overall.Austin Romine carries a seven-game hitting streak (9-for-26 with five RBIs) into Saturday versus Cleveland right-handed prospect Triston McKenzie, who will make his major league debut.McKenzie has not pitched competitively since August 2018. He made 16 starts for Double-A Akron that year before missing all of the 2019 campaign with a strained right rotator cuff and right pectoral muscle.While McKenzie has thrown several bullpen sessions, Indians pitching coach Carl Willis said the time is right for the 23-year-old to make his season debut -- for a number of reasons."The feeling (was) like bringing someone up and having them start would be a better situation than potentially having to bring somebody up to give us length and they're making their debut and they've never pitched out of the bullpen before," Willis said, per Cleveland.com. "It wasn't like it was just a no-brainer, but we feel like we're definitely in the best spot with Triston on Saturday." Gardenhire added his two cents on what he knows about McKenzie."I know he's about 6-foot-5 and he's really skinny," Gardenhire said of McKenzie, who is listed at 165 pounds.Detroit left-hander Matthew Boyd (0-3, 9.64 ERA) will attempt to keep the ball in the park on Saturday when he bids for his first win of the season.Boyd has surrendered seven homers in his three starts this month, including three solo shots in four innings of a 7-2 road setback against the Chicago White Sox on Monday.The 29-year-old surrendered five homers to Cleveland in a pair of games in Cleveland last season. He owns a 2-4 mark with a 3.79 ERA in 11 career meetings (10 starts) with the Indians."They're good hitters. They've been a good ballclub for a long time," Boyd said of the Indians. "After Pitch 1, the rest kind of tells itself what to do. The first pitch will tell what the next one should be." Boyd has yet to face Franmil Reyes in his career, but he'd be wise to keep a keen eye on the slugger. Reyes belted a two-run shot on Friday to give him four homers and seven RBIs in four games against the Tigers this season.--Field Level Media
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