DETROIT -- On a night when it seemed the 27th out might never come for the Cleveland Indians, Chris Perez threw one last fastball to Miguel Cabrera and hoped the Detroit slugger would hit it on the ground.

"He chopped it," Perez said. "I wanted him to put something in play, but down. Luckily he did."

Perez got Cabrera to hit a game-ending groundout with two on in the ninth inning, and Cleveland held on for a 7-6 win over the Tigers on Saturday night. Ubaldo Jimenez outpitched Justin Verlander, but Detroit's late rally forced the Indians to sweat out a tense finish.

Perez came on to pitch the ninth with Cleveland ahead 7-5. He was in a jam after a one-out error by first baseman Nick Swisher and a single by Omar Infante, but second baseman Jason Kipnis made a sparkling play behind second, fielding Austin Jackson's grounder up the middle and flipping behind his back to shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera for a force.

"Awesome -- that saved me," Perez said. "It made up for Swish's play. Baseball kind of works out that way. He picked me up."

That was out No. 26. The Indians still needed one more, and Torii Hunter's RBI single gave Miguel Cabrera another trip to the plate with men on first and second.

The count ran from 0-2 to 3-2, but Cabrera -- who entered the day leading the majors in batting average and RBIs -- hit a slow grounder to third to end it. It was Perez's sixth save.

"We fought tooth and nail to get the right guy up there," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "I'll take that situation every time, but even that guy can't come through every time. We just put ourselves in too big a hole."

Verlander (4-3) was erratic early, allowing three runs in the first two innings. He settled down a bit after that, but the Indians took a 6-1 lead before Detroit closed the gap with a four-run seventh.

Jimenez (3-2) allowed a run and three hits in six innings, striking out eight with one walk. He's won three straight starts for the first time since the Indians acquired him in a trade in 2011.

Jhonny Peralta hit a solo homer for Detroit.

Swisher opened the scoring with an RBI double in the first, and Jason Giambi drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 2-0. That was Verlander's third walk of the first inning.

The Detroit ace got the first two outs of the second but allowed another run when Kipnis hit a single and Asdrubal Cabrera followed with a double.

"My fastball control just wasn't good at all," Verlander said. "I was trying to get ahead with the fastball and then throw off-speed stuff, hoping I could grind out six innings, but I didn't even do that."

Verlander allowed six hits and five walks in five innings, striking out seven and leaving after 110 pitches. After Peralta's homer got the Tigers on the board in the third, Cleveland added an unearned run off Verlander in the fifth to make it 4-1.

Swisher walked to lead off that inning, and Carlos Santana hit what looked like a double play grounder to first baseman Prince Fielder, who stepped on first and threw to second to trap Swisher between bases. Miguel Cabrera, the third baseman, was involved in the rundown because a defensive shift had him playing close to second, and he threw the ball away for an error. Swisher eventually scored on a two-out single by Mark Reynolds.

Asdrubal Cabrera's RBI single in the sixth made it 5-1, and pinch-hitter Mike Aviles added a run-scoring single of his own in the seventh, but the Cleveland bullpen almost gave up the lead. Jimenez left after 93 pitches, and Nick Hagadone allowed a double and two walks to start the Detroit seventh.

Cody Allen came on and allowed a sacrifice fly to pinch-hitter Brayan Pena. Infante added a two-run triple and scored on Jackson's groundout to make it 6-5.

A sacrifice fly by Giambi in the eighth gave Cleveland an insurance run the Indians would end up needing.

When Jimenez was acquired two years ago, the Indians hoped they were getting an ace who could help them compete with teams like the Tigers. The right-hander hasn't come close to expectations, but he's pitching better now.

"I think it's all about my mechanics," Jimenez said. "I think the last three games I've been able to repeat my mechanics with every pitch."

This was Cleveland's seventh game this season against a former Cy Young Award winner, and the Indians are 6-1 in those games.

Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

DETROIT -- Before the game Friday, Jim Leyland called Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder the best 3-4 combination in the lineup he's ever had.

The veteran manager's timing was perfect.

Cabrera and Fielder each hit a long home run later that night, and the Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians 10-4. Fielder's third-inning solo shot landed near the No. 42 honoring Jackie Robinson on the brick facade beyond the wall in right-center field. Cabrera's three-run homer the following inning came down below Hank Greenberg's retired No. 5 in left-center at Comerica Park.

"I just kind of let 'em play, stay out of their way. ... I think that's what you're supposed to do," Leyland said. "We're very fortunate, obviously, to have both of them."

Detroit's Max Scherzer (5-0) allowed four runs and five hits in eight innings. He struck out seven without a walk.

Corey Kluber (2-2) allowed eight runs and 11 hits in 4 2/3 innings.

Andy Dirks also homered for the Tigers, and Omar Infante had three hits, including two doubles. Jhonny Peralta doubled twice as well.

The Tigers trailed 1-0 before Alex Avila's two-run double in the second. Torii Hunter drove home Avila with a single to right, although he was tagged out near first base on the throw back to the infield for the last out of the inning -- preventing another run from scoring on the play.

Fielder's homer went an estimated 460 feet -- according to a Tigers' spokesman, who cited ESPN Stats & Info.

"That was unbelievable," Cabrera said. "Every time he goes to the plate, it's like we expect he's going to hit the ball so far, because we know what kind of power he has."

The Indians answered with a run in the fourth when Nick Swisher tripled and scored on Carlos Santana's groundout.

Detroit broke the game open in the bottom half. With one out, Infante hit his second double of the game and took third on Austin Jackson's single. After Hunter struck out, Cabrera hit his seventh homer of the year. The defending Triple Crown winner has 40 RBIs in 33 games in 2013.

"When you get RBIs, that means people are on base, obviously," Leyland said. "We've done a good job of that for him, and he's taken advantage of that."

Avila had three RBIs on Friday -- his fifth-inning single scored Peralta to make it 8-2.

"I made too many mistakes with the cutter," Kluber said. "I left one over the plate to Cabrera, and they got a couple more hits off that exact same pitch."

Scherzer's previous start was Detroit's 17-2 victory over Houston last weekend. He received plenty of support this time, too, and he retired eight in a row after Swisher's triple.

"That's one of the best pitchers in the game, and we got four runs off him, so that's pretty good," Indians manager Terry Francona said. "He just pounds the strike zone and then he's got the wipe-out changeup, so you aren't going to get much off him without scratching and clawing. I wish we had gotten 10 off him, but that's not too likely."

Cleveland, which entered the day with a major league-leading 49 homers, didn't hit any Friday. The Indians did scratch out a couple runs in the seventh on an RBI groundout by Mark Reynolds and a sacrifice fly by Michael Brantley.

Dirks hit a solo homer down the line in right in the bottom of the seventh to make it 9-4, and Victor Martinez hit a run-scoring single in the eighth.

Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

On Thursday, May 9, Jason Kipnis belted a two-run homer in the first inning of the Indians series-finale against the Oakland Athletics at Progressive Field. The Tribe completed a four-game sweep of the A’s with an impressive 9-2 victory. Kipnis finished the day with 3 RBIs. Following the game, Kipnis met with WTAM 1100 Indians reporter Nick Camino and other members of the media to talk about his continued success at the plate, the Tribe’s current winning streak and head to Detroit to play the Tigers over the weekend. Check out this exclusive video!

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On Thursday, May 9, the Cleveland Indians completed a four-game sweep over the Oakland Athletics with a 9-2 win in the series-finale at Progressive Field. The Tribe has now won four-straight games, including ten of their last eleven. After the victory, Indians manager Terry Francona met with WTAM 1100’s Nick Camino and other members of the media to talk about the win, Scott Kazmir’s outing and Jason Kipnis’ continued success at the plate. The Tribe travels to Detroit on Friday to begin a three-game weekend series against the Detroit Tigers. Check out this exclusive video!

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CLEVELAND (AP) -- Jason Kipnis, Nick Swisher and Mark Reynolds hit indisputable home runs and Scott Kazmir struck out 10 in six innings, leading the Cleveland Indians to a 9-2 win over Oakland on Thursday and a four-game sweep of the Athletics.

The Indians ended the series with a convincing blowout, one day after they won 4-3 with the help of a blown call in the ninth inning when umpires, after watching a video replay, ruled that an apparent tying home run by Oakland's Adam Rosales was a double.

Major League Baseball acknowledged the umpires made an ''improper call,'' but executive vice president Joe Torre said the decision is final.

Kipnis hit a two-run homer in the first off Bartolo Colon (3-2) for the Indians, who won for the 10th time in 11 games and improved to 13-4 since April 20.

Kazmir (2-1) allowed one run and five hits and has won consecutive starts for the first time since 2010.

Josh Donaldson homered for the A's, who fell to .500 for the first time since April 4 when they were 2-2. Oakland is just 6-14 after starting 12-4.

The Indians were already leading by six runs when MLB released a statement indicating umpire Angel Hernandez and his crew had erred Wednesday night. After watching a video replay, they failed to reverse a call and gave Rosales a double instead of a homer.

TV replays showed Rosales' shot off Chris Perez had easily cleared the 19-foot-high wall.

''Given what we saw, we recognize that an improper call was made,'' Torre said. ''Perfection is an impossible standard in any endeavor, but our goal is always to get the calls right. Earlier this morning, we began the process of speaking with the crew to thoroughly review all the circumstances surrounding last night's decision.''

MLB director of umpires Randy Marsh was sent to Progressive Field for the series finale to inspect the video replay equipment. Marsh did not find any problems and reported his findings to Torre.

The Indians, who came in leading the AL in homers, took a 2-0 lead in the first on Kipnis' fourth homer, a two-run shot.

Michael Brantley singled to open the first off Colon and Kipnis followed by belting a 2-1 pitch over the left-field wall, not far from where Rosales' contested double landed.

Kipnis added a sacrifice fly in the second, when the Indians tacked on three runs to open a 5-0 lead.

Swisher led off the third by pulling Colon's first pitch over the wall in right for his fifth homer and second in two days. Swisher, who played college ball at Ohio State, was typically animated after rounding the bases. He bashed forearms with Jason Giambi and raised arms to give the ''O-H'' gesture to Cleveland fans.

The Indians added three runs in the fifth, two coming on Reynolds' AL-leading 11th homer.

Colon gave up six runs and eight hits in five innings. The right-hander, who pitched for the Indians from 1997 to 2002, hadn't faced Cleveland since 2005.

Before the game, Wednesday night's stunning events dominated the chatter in both clubhouses, with several players weighing in on instant replay.

Perez felt fortunate the Indians had gotten a favorable call, but he doesn't think baseball should broaden its replay system.

''I don't think it needs to be expanded,'' he said. ''I like where it's at on home runs and boundary calls. In baseball, there's a human element with errors and guys tripping over bases and all kinds of stuff - and blown calls.

''So, unfortunately for the A's it didn't go their way, but we're not going to be sorry for it.''

Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

CLEVELAND -- An apparent game-tying homer by Oakland's Adam Rosales was ruled a double by umpires in the ninth inning, and the Cleveland Indians held on to beat the Athletics 4-3 on Wednesday night.

Rosales sent a drive off Indians closer Chris Perez that looked as if it cleared the left-field wall. However, second-base umpire Angel Hernandez called it a double, and the crew concurred with the original ruling after leaving the field to review the videotape.

When the umpires returned and told Rosales to stay at second, A's manager Bob Melvin sprinted onto the field and was immediately ejected.

TV replays appeared to show the ball cleared the yellow stripe and hit a metal railing above the 19-foot high wall.

Perez wound up loading the bases before getting the final out as the Indians won for the ninth time in 10 games.

Nick Swisher and Carlos Santana homered for Cleveland.

Before the umpires returned to the field, Perez seemed resigned that he had blown the lead. Indians manager Terry Francona, too, checked his scorecard perhaps thinking about some moves he might have to make because the game was now tied.

But the umpires' seemed satisfied they got the call correct, and the A's were forced to try to tie it another way.

They nearly did as Perez hit Eric Sogard and John Jason walked after a nine-pitch to load the bases. But Perez got Seth Smith to hit a comebacker and ran the ball to first base and stepped on the bag to end the controversial ninth.

Before the dramatic finish, the Indians trailed 3-0 until scoring twice in the fifth and then getting the homers from Swisher and Santana off A.J. Griffin (3-3) in the sixth.

Justin Masterson (5-2) allowed three runs in seven innings and got his second career win over Oakland.

Cleveland is 12-4 since April 20 and three games over .500 for the first time this season. The Indians will try to sweep the four-game series on Thursday.

The aching A's fell to 6-13 against the AL Central and East. They are 13-3 inside their own division. Oakland has seven players on the disabled list, including three outfielders.

Down 3-2 in the sixth, Swisher and Santana connected off Griffin and the Indians held on to improve to 7-1 on this homestand. About the only thing that isn't climbing for Cleveland is the attendance. The Indians are averaging just 14,411 fans per game -- last in the majors.

With one out in the sixth, Swisher launched his fourth homer into the right field seats. He was still slapping hands with some teammates, when one out later, Santana ripped his seventh homer over the center-field wall, a shot that had the excitable Swisher doing a little dance in Cleveland's dugout.

It was the 10th time this season that Cleveland, which leads the AL with 46 homers, has hit two homers in one inning.

Masterson lost his previous three starts against Oakland and came in 1-5 with a 8.10 ERA versus the A's in 10 appearances. However, the right-hander was overpowering in cruising through the first three innings, striking out four and holding the A's -- the majors' top-scoring team -- without a hit.

Oakland, though, got to Masterson for three runs in the fourth with Brandon Moss driving in one run and Daric Barton, recalled earlier in the day, delivering a two-out, two-run single. The A's were shut out 1-0 on Tuesday, when they didn't get a runner to second base against Zach McAllister and two relievers.

Masterson continued Cleveland's run of stellar starting pitching. In the last nine games, Indians starters are 8-1 with a 2.64 ERA.

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On Tuesday, May 7, Indians right-hander Zach McAllister won his third game of the season shutting down the Oakland Athletics over 7 2/3 innings en route to a 1-0 victory. McAllister struck out four, walked one and only allowed five hits during his spectacular outing. Following the Tribe’s win, McAllister met with WTAM 1100 Indians reporter Nick Camino and other members of the media to talk about his performance, the ovation he received from fans at the game and the communication he had with his catcher Yan Gomes. Check out this exclusive video following the Tribe’s second-straight win!

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On Tuesday, May 7, the Cleveland Indians held on to edge the visiting Oakland Athletics 1-0 at Progressive Field. Tribe right-hander Zach McAllister pitched 7 2/3 shutout innings only allowing five hits, while striking out four. The Indians have now won two in a row over the A’s during this four-game weekday series. After the win, Tribe skipper Terry Francona met with WTAM 1100 Indians reporter Nick Camino and other members of the media to talk about the win, McAllister’s outing and a crucial caught stealing play by catcher Yan Gomes. Check out this exclusive video!

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CLEVELAND -- Zach McAllister and two relievers combined on a shutout and the Cleveland Indians scored an unearned run in the fifth inning for their eighth win in nine games, 1-0 over the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday night.

McAllister, Rich Hill and Chris Perez limited the highest scoring offense in the majors to six hits and did not allow a runner to reach second base.

McAllister (3-3) struck out four and walked one in 7 2/3 innings. The right-hander was pulled after John Jaso's two-out single in the eighth. Hill then retired pinch-hitter Luke Montz to end the inning and Perez pitched the ninth for his fourth save.

Tommy Milone (3-4), who lost a career-worst fourth straight start, was done in by shoddy defense and no run support. The Indians managed only five hits, but errors by first baseman Brandon Moss and second baseman Eric Sogard on the same play in the fifth led to the only run, which scored on Yan Gomes' sacrifice fly.

The Athletics have scored a total of five runs during Milone's losing streak after putting up 28 in his first three outings. The left-hander struck out five and walked none in seven innings.

Yoenis Cespedes singled with one out in the ninth, but was thrown out trying to steal second by Gomes. Moss struck out on a 3-2 pitch to end the game.

The unusual fifth inning started when Carlos Santana's ground ball glanced off Moss' glove and rolled to Sogard, whose throw to Milone covering first was wild. The ball skipped past Oakland's dugout and rolled behind home plate. Santana ended up at second and Moss and Sogard were charged with errors.

Santana moved to third on Mike Aviles' single and scored on Gomes' sacrifice fly to deep center.

The inning took another strange turn when Aviles broke for second and was caught off first by Milone's throw. Sogard appeared to tag Aviles, but second base umpire Paul Nauert ruled the runner was safe. Aviles was credited with a stolen base.

Oakland manager Bob Melvin angrily argued the call with Nauert and gave a disgusted wave to first base umpire John Tumpane on his way off the field, but he wasn't ejected.

McAllister retired the first seven hitters before Sogard beat out an infield hit. Shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera circled to the ball and his long throw pulled Santana off the bag at first, but Sogard beat the play.

Milone sent down the first six hitters before Ryan Raburn doubled to lead off the third. Raburn took third on a groundout, but was stranded when Gomes grounded out and Drew Stubbs struck out.

Jason Kipnis started the fourth with a double, but his bid to steal third went awry when he broke too early from second. Instead of throwing to the plate, Milone threw to third baseman Josh Donaldson, who tagged Kipnis. Nick Swisher singled with two outs, but Mark Reynolds hit into a fielder's choice.

McAllister threw a 1-1 pitch at Donaldson's feet with two outs and nobody on in the second. Donaldson glared at McAllister over the pitch, which could have been a response to Reynolds being hit by Jarrod Parkerfollowing two home runs by the Indians on Monday.

Oakland outfielder Josh Reddick, in a 3-for-27 slump and batting .152, missed the game with a sore right wrist.

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