Though the White Sox are still in it, it looks as though the Central Division race will be decided by the first-place Tigers and second-place Indians, with three games separating the two in the standings.

The teams have played nine times this season, with the Indians winning six of them, including five-of-six at Progressive Field. They will play nine more times before the season is complete, six in Detroit, including the final three games of the year.

Here’s how Cleveland and Detroit stack up in head-to-head matchups, with statistics through Friday:

FIRST BASE

Matt LaPorta, Cleveland (.239, 10 HRs, 41 RBIs) vs. Miguel Cabrera, Detroit (.318, 22 HRs 72 RBIs)

The Edge: Tigers

The Reason: This one doesn’t even deserve a discussion. Cabrera is one of the game’s most potent offensive weapons, while LaPorta, a highly touted slugger, has shown little of that.

SECOND BASE

Jason Kipnis, Cleveland (.279, 6 HRs, 11 RBIs) vs. Ramon Santiago, Detroit (.235, 1 HR, 11 RBIs)

The Edge: Indians

The Reason: Kipnis has only played in a handful of games but he’s starting to look like a veteran, at least at the plate. Detroit has used a number of players at this position, including veteran Carlos Guillen, who is probably the best the Tigers have to offer there.

SHORTSTOP

Asdrubal Cabrera, Cleveland (.290, 19 HRs, 68 RBIs) vs. Jhonny Peralta, Detroit (.310, 16 HRs, 62 RBIs)

The Edge: Indians

The Reason: This is a tougher call than most would expect. Both players are All-Stars, though Cabrera was voted into the game, while Peralta was a replacement for  injured Derek Jeter. And Cabrera is the much better defender.

THIRD BASE

Lonnie Chisenhall, Cleveland (.240, 3 HRs, 7 RBIs) vs. Wilson Betemit, Detroit (.360, 2 HRs, 10 RBIs)

The Edge: Tigers

The Reason: Detroit’s longtime third baseman Brandon Inge was sent to the minors, with the club recently trading for Betemit. He’s not great, but he’s a veteran that gets the nod over the rookie Chisenhall, who has not been the run producer the Indians had hoped.

CATCHER

Carlos Santana, Cleveland (.238, 18 HRs, 59 RBIs) vs. Alex Avila, Detroit (.290,

13 HRs, 54 RBIs)

The Edge: Tigers

The Reason: This is another close call, with Santana starting to heat up as of late, but Avila is an All-Star and he doesn’t have the defensive liabilities of the Indians’ backstop.

RIGHT FIELD

Shin-Soo Choo, Cleveland (.244, 5 HRs, 28 RBIs) vs. Magglio Ordonez, Detroit (.224,

4 HRs, 22 RBIs)

The Edge: Indians

The Reason: Both players have had ineffective injury-plagued seasons, but Choo looks more poised to finish strong, and he is the younger player.

CENTER FIELD

Kosuke Fukudome, Cleveland (.268, 3 HRs, 18 RBIs) vs. Austin Jackson, Detroit (.244, 5 HRs, 28 RBIs)

The Edge: Tigers

The Reason: Fukudome, who shifted over in the outfield when Choo came off the DL, hasn’t done much since arriving in a trade from the Cubs. Jackson’s offensive numbers aren’t real impressive, but he’s a top-shelf fielder.

LEFT FIELD

Michael Brantley, Cleveland (.270, 7 HRs, 44 RBIs) vs. Brennan Boesch, Detroit (.285, 16 HRs, 54 RBIs)

The Edge: Tigers

The Reason: Brantley has adapted better to the big leagues this season, but Boesch has had the better year and gets the nod here.

DESIGNATED HITTER

Travis Hafner, Cleveland (.293, 10 HRs, 46 RBIs) vs. Victor Martinez, Detroit (.317,

6 HRs, 64 RBIs)

The Edge: Tigers

The Reason: Both players have spent time on the disabled list this season and have been productive when in the lineup. But Martinez is the better hitter, especially now that Hafner doesn’t possess the same power he used to.

STARTING PITCHING

Cleveland (38-42, 4.19 ERA) vs. Detroit (49-40, 4.14 ERA)

The Edge: Indians

The Reason: Even with the addition of frontline starter Ubaldo Jimenez (7-9, 4.37), the Indians don’t have anyone to match Tigers ace Justin Verlander (17-5, 2.35), who is a strong candidate for the American League’s Cy Young award. Still, Cleveland’s rotation is deeper with Justin Masterson (9-7, 2.69), Josh Tomlin (11-5, 4.08) and, when he’s right, Fausto Carmona (5-12, 5.12).

BULLPEN

Cleveland (21-15, 3.35 ERA) vs. Detroit (14-15, 4.37 ERA)

The Edge: Indians

The Reason: Both relief units possess top-shelf closers – Cleveland’s Chris Perez (2-5, 3.38, 24-of-27 in save opportunities) and Detroit’s Jose Valverde (2-3, 2.81, 34-of-34). But the stats say the Indians have one of the AL’s best bullpens, while the Tigers have one of the worst.

MANAGER

Manny Acta, Cleveland (59-57, second place) vs. Jim Leyland, Detroit (63-55, first place)

The Edge: Even

The Reason: Leyland is considered one of the game’s best managers, but Acta is the frontrunner for the AL Manager of the Year award for guiding an Indians team projected to finish fourth by most into contention.

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Fan him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter.

CLEVELAND — The Indians are clicking at the right time. Whether it translates into their first Central Division title since 2007 remains to be seen.

Cleveland secured the series with Minnesota on Saturday night at Progressive Field with a 3-1 victory over the Twins that gave the Indians their sixth win in nine games.

With a month-plus remaining in the regular season, the Indians, who trail the first-place Tigers by three games in the standings, have begun to pick up steam as a pivotal stretch approaches.

“There are a lot of signs (now) of how we played in April,” said closer Chris Perez, whose team got off to the best start in baseball and owned the majors’ top record over the majority of the first two months of the season. “It was a good recipe. It got us off to a good start.

“This is crunch time. It’s time to get going.”

The Indians got going against the Twins thanks to another quality start from Josh Tomlin, one big hit from All-Star shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera and another suffocating effort from the bullpen.

Tomlin lasted just 6 1/3 innings (84 pitches), but he allowed only a run on four hits to improve to 12-5 with a 3.97 ERA in 24 starts. The right-hander has worked at least five innings in each of his first 36 career starts, which is the longest streak in the majors since 1919.

“Tomlin was terrific again,” manager Manny Acta said. “He pitched ahead in the count all night and gave us a great opportunity to win the ballgame.”

“I didn’t feel great but I was able to go out and make pitches when I needed to,” said Tomlin, who didn’t allow a run and just two hits over the first six innings. “I was able to keep hitters off balance.”

Tomlin had not won since July 15, taking no decisions in three outings and a loss in another over the span.

“What counts is how many games the Indians win,” Acta said. “Those guys understand that. They give us an opportunity to win and then they can’t control the rest.”

Despite the Indians putting runners aboard in each inning, Tomlin was backed by just one swing of the bat from Cabrera, who clouted a three-run home run for all of his team’s runs in the third.

Cabrera, who already has more homers this season (20) then he owned in his career before the year began, became just the third Cleveland shortstop to reach the 20-homer plateau, joining Woodie Held (1958-64) and Jhonny Peralta (2003-10) — both players accomplishing the feat three times apiece. Cabrera is four homers shy of tying Peralta for the most by an Indians shortstop over a single season.

“Cabby was our offensive hero today,” Acta said. “He’s done it for us the whole year and he’s going to continue to do it if he stays healthy.”

With a 3-0 lead, two on and one out in the seventh, Acta turned to his bullpen, one the American League’s best, and the relief corps didn’t let him down.

Though Joe Smith allowed the only run credited to Tomlin on a base hit from Delmon Young, he ended the seventh with limited damage before handing it over to Tony Sipp in the eighth and Perez in the ninth.

Both Sipp and Perez retired the side in order, with Perez ending the game by striking out Jim Thome on three pitches — all called strikes.

“When we have the opportunity to match up, we’re pretty tough,” said Perez, who converted his 25th save in 28 chances. “We’re not easy to hit against. We know if we’re up after five (innings), we’re going to win.”

With two games down, Thome is still stuck at 598 career homers. He went 0-for-2 with a walk in the series opener, and was hitless with a walk in four trips to the plate Saturday.

Now that they have fallen behind the Tigers, the Indians know they have to string together some victories to keep the heat on Detroit.

“We all want to start a streak, obviously,” Tomlin said. “Everybody’s playing their tails off. The effort is there.”

Will the wins and a division title be there in the end?

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Fan him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter.

CLEVELAND — The comeback kids did it again.

Trailing for much of the game Friday night at Progressive Field, the Indians produced more late magic, rallying for a 3-2 victory in the series opener against Minnesota.

Resiliency has been a trademark of this young Indians team and it was on display again, with Cleveland notching its 28th come-from-behind win and its American League-high 18th victory in its last at-bat.

“That’s what these guys have done the whole year,” said manager Manny Acta, whose team has generated 14 of the 18 last-at-bat wins at home. “They haven’t been able to be shaken up by anything.”

The Indians weren’t fazed by going scoreless over the first five innings against Twins starter Carl Pavano, tying the game at one in the sixth. Then, after Minnesota forged ahead 2-1 in the eighth, Cleveland stormed back to win it with two in the bottom of the inning.

An RBI double from Carlos Santana tied the game, with Matt LaPorta scoring Santana to win it on a blooper to left that fell in front of a diving Ben Revere.

“I think a lot of it is just guys feeding off each other and wanting to step up and do anything they can to help us win,” LaPorta said of his club’s tendency for late-game heroics. “I don’t think we quit.”

Despite getting his usual lack of run support, there was no quit in Cleveland’s starting pitcher Justin Masterson.

Pitching three days after an abbreviated start Tuesday thanks to a lengthy rain delay, Masterson was the picture of consistency again, keeping pace with Pavano by allowing two runs on five hits over 7 2/3 innings.

The right-hander lowered his ERA to 2.69 over 25 starts (26 games), but has only nine wins. He has just one win over his last six outings despite pitching well in each of them.

“I just like that I’m pitching good, whatever,” Masterson said of the lack of run support. “I like the consistency that’s been there (for me). Our guys have shown that they will score some runs at some point. I don’t care when they come, as long as they come.”

The Indians’ offense, which has scuffled for the majority of the season, has scored three runs or fewer in over half (13) of Masterson’s starts. If it has affected him, Masterson has yet to display as much.

“He’s a very positive and mentally tough guy,” Acta said. “He doesn’t allow that to bother him. He knows he can’t control our offense. He knows that he can control that two-seam fastball and four-seam fastball and go from there.”

The Indians’ late rally and a stingy effort from the bullpen at least kept Masterson from shouldering a tough-luck loss.

Left-hander Rafael Perez got the final out with runners on first and third in the eighth before closer Chris Perez retired the side in order in the ninth to earn his 24th save in 27 opportunities.

Cleveland right fielder Shin-Soo Choo was activated from the disabled list prior to the game and was in the lineup, going 1-for-4 with a run. Choo was expected to play in a week’s worth of minor league rehab games but returned after playing in just three and didn’t look rusty.

“That was impressive for a guy that had eight at-bats in the minor leagues,” Acta said. “He hit some balls hard. It looked like he didn’t miss a beat.”

Cleveland pitching was able to stall Jim Thome’s quest for 600 career home runs, holding Minnesota’s designated hitter at 598. Thome, the Indians’ all-time homer leader with 334, went 0-for-2 before walking and being removed for a pinch runner in the eighth inning.

The Indians have won five of their last eight games to keep pace with first-place Detroit, which maintained its three-game lead over Cleveland on Friday.

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Fan him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter.

ELYRIA — The city is in the middle of a tug-of-war between residents who want to see the property and land Wal-Mart abandoned on Griswold Road turned into green space and the Arkansas-based corporation’s rights as private property owners.

A worker checks the pump pulling smelly water from the basement of the former Maplewood Elementary School. (CT photo by Bruce Bishop.)

John Pittman, a resident of West River Road North, is leading the charge to get the property cleared and said he will keep working at it until he is successful.

“For me, this started four years ago when they said they wanted to turn the property into a Walmart Supercenter. They put up a construction fence, but just let it waste away while they decided they didn’t want to bother with the store at all,” Pittman said from his front yard, which faces the east side of the property. “This company has the money. They can just bring the buildings down, clear the land and just leave it as vacant space until someone comes along to buy it.”

The area in question is roughly 20 acres and includes several buildings, the most notable being the old Maplewood Elementary School. Another brick building on the land was used by the state as an unemployment office.

Wal-Mart purchased the property in 2006 with the idea it would build a superstore to replace a store near Midway Mall at the Midway Crossings Plaza. But in the years that followed, Wal-Mart built a store in Lorain and closed the Midway Crossings store. The property has been for sale for several years.

Wal-Mart has not responded to a request for comment.

Pittman said over the years he has spoken with Wal-Mart officials to no avail. It was not until a town hall meeting hosted by Councilman Mark Craig, I-4th Ward, that he said someone from the city finally listened to his concerns about tall grass growing around the property and standing water in and around the buildings.

Kevin Brubaker, deputy safety service director, said the first time he toured the property earlier this summer he found that the school had been breached and there was evidence that someone had trespassed. Water in the school had completely inundated the basement and up to the first floor landing.

“My first call to Wal-Mart was not a happy call, because I told them they had to secure the fence and the building, cut the grass and get the water out of the building,” he said. “And, I must say they have done just that, which leaves us a little hand-tied to force them to take the building down. They were very receptive and quick to answer.”

Thursday, a private company hired by Wal-Mart to handle the water issues in the building could be seen using a huge sewer vacuum to pump water from the building into the city’s wastewater system. It was an all-day job.

Brubaker said the city sent a crew from its Wastewater Department to do a water test last week to check for chlorine and PCBs before giving Wal-Mart the go-ahead to dump the water into the city sewers. Also, the pumps were metered so a sewer bill could be sent to Wal-Mart when the clean-up was done.

In two days, crews pumped more than 810,000 gallons of water out of the old school.

“With what they will pay for sewer services and what they paid the company to do the work, I think they probably could have just taken the building down and been done with it,” he said. “But at this point, as long as they do their job to keep the property secure, the city will not have a major concern. We are not going to push too hard. They are being a good neighbor and we are working with them to positively get them to do the right thing.”

Pittman said he won’t stop until he can look out his window and see nothing but a clear lot.
“I’m looking out for my neighborhood,” he said. “It’s been an eyesore for so many years and I will keep at it,” he said.

Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.