Indians 7, Tigers 4: A real stunner — Tribe wins - WEOL Radio 930 AM WEOL Radio 930 AM

Indians 7, Tigers 4: A real stunner — Tribe wins

CLEVELAND — It was a Mother’s Day celebration at Progressive Field on Sunday, but the Indians threw a surprise party instead.

Getting production from a number of unlikely sources and in a number of out-of-the-ordinary ways, Cleveland snapped a five-game losing streak with a 7-4 victory.

The win not only ended a season-high skid for the Indians, it ended their futility against Detroit, which entered the day with 10 straight wins over Cleveland and an 18-4 record against its Central Division rival since the start of last season.

“It feels good to snap out of it,” said Indians manager Manny Acta, whose club won for just the second time in nine games.

Among the many surprises was the vast production from the bottom of the Indians order, namely seventh and eighth hitters Mark Grudzielanek and Andy Marte.

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The two bench players combined to go 4-for-6 with two runs and five RBIs.

Grudzielanek, who turns 40 in June and did not play in the majors last season, went
3-for-4 and drove in two of Cleveland’s last three runs, including the go-ahead run in the fifth.

Staying with the surprising theme, the Indians had slugger Russell Branyan drop down a sacrifice bunt to move Austin Kearns to second before Grudzielanek’s base hit drove him in to put Cleveland in front for good at 5-4.

“Mark has been swinging the bat real good the last week or so,” Acta said. “He’s proven that he can still swing the bat.

“He’s been playing more. The way he’s playing right now, he gives us a good chance to win.”

Grudzielanek had seen more playing time in the absence of injured shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, and with second baseman Luis Valbuena struggling at the plate and in the field, he’s expected to see more.

“That’s not my decision,” said Grudzielanek, who is hitting .281 with seven RBIs in 15 games, .326 with seven RBIs over his last 12 games. “It’s nice to be out there but I have to continue to go out there and make them want to keep playing me.”

Marte took advantage of some rare playing time to drive in three runs, two of them with a triple in the second that put the Indians in front after Detroit scored once in the first off Mitch Talbot.

The Indians scored four times in the inning, the other two runs coming in strange fashion on a pair of infield singles from Lou Marson and Shin-Soo Choo. It was Marson’s first RBI of the season.

What came as no surprise was another positive outing from Talbot, the unheralded No. 5 starter. He only lasted five innings, but got the win after allowing four runs on six hits and striking out four.

Talbot (4-2, 3.43) got a lift from relievers Aaron Laffey, Kerry Wood, Tony Sipp and Chris Perez, with the foursome shutting out Detroit’s vaunted lineup on just two hits over the final four innings.

“It really wasn’t me,” Talbot said. “You’ve got to hand that to the hitters and the bullpen. They did a great job.”

The victory put a positive ending on an otherwise negative homestand that saw the Indians win just two of eight games against Minnesota, Toronto and Detroit.

Next up for Cleveland is an eight-game road trip that will take it through Kansas City, Baltimore and Tampa Bay.

“It was not a very good homestand,” Acta said. “We’re just going to have to go out and be road warriors.”

Now, that would be a surprise.