CLEVELAND – Jeremy Bonderman pitched three-hit ball through eight innings and Chris Shelton homered to help the Detroit Tigers extend Cleveland’s losing streak to a season-high five games with a 3-0 win over the Indians on Saturday night.

Shelton, who hadn’t homered in 41 at-bats since April 28, hit his 11th of the year on a 2-0 pitch from C.C. Sabathia (2-1) leading off the third inning.

The Tigers improved the best road record in baseball to 15-7. They have not finished with a winning road mark since a 41-40 mark in 1993 – going 359-601 (.374) away from Detroit since then.

The Indians’ skid is their longest since losing five in a row July 10-17.

Bonderman (4-2) didn’t allow a hit until Todd Hollandsworth doubled to the wall in left-center with two outs in the fifth.

The right-hander walked three and struck out eight as he stymied a Cleveland lineup that came in leading the majors in runs (223), hits (389) and hitting (.302).

Todd Jones gave up a pair of two-out singles in the night before getting Todd Hollandsworth to line out to center field for his ninth save in 10 tries – and second in two nights.

Cleveland made three errors, giving them an AL-worst 28 for the season.

Miscues by third baseman Aaron Boone and shortstop Jhonny Peralta helped Detroit score an unearned run in the sixth. Magglio Ordonez singled into the hole at short with two outs for the RBI.

Ivan Rodriguez’s RBI double in the eighth made it 3-0.

Cleveland’s best chance came in the sixth. Grady Sizemore and Casey Blake each singled, but Peralta lined into a broken-bat double play and Travis Hafner struck out.

Peralta’s failure to run led to the final out of the eighth. With Boone on second, Peralta tapped a ball that rolled down the first-base line, inches foul. He stood and watched as first baseman Shelton allowed it to keep rolling until the ball took a left turn into fair territory. Shelton picked it up and jogged to the bag to record the out as fans booed.

Bonderman improved to 5-8 with a 6.17 ERA in 16 career games against Cleveland, snapping a three-game losing streak to the Indians in which had been pounded for 26 hits and 15 runs over 13 innings for a 10.38 ERA.

Sabathia gave up two earned runs and six hits over eight innings, tying a career high with 10 strikeouts and issuing one intentional walk.

Notes: Two of the 10 perfect-game pitchers still alive, ex-Indians RHP Len Barker and current Tigers LHP Kenny Rogers were in the park. The Indians honored Barker for the 15th anniversary of his perfecto, which officially is Monday. … Sabathia fell to 10-5 in his career against Detroit, including 4-5 at Jacobs Field. … Blake extended his hitting streak to 11 games.

AP-ES-05-13-06 2143EDT



Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.