Tigers 14, Indians 0
Doug Fister dominated through eight innings in his final playoff tuneup and Miguel Cabrera lengthened his lead in the American League batting title race as the Detroit Tigers coasted to a 14-0 victory over the visiting Cleveland Indians on Monday.
Alex Avila drove in three runs and Delmon Young hit a three-run homer for the Tigers, who stayed one game behind the Texas Rangers for the No. 2 spot and home field advantage in the first round of the AL playoffs.
The Rangers won at Los Angeles, 4-3, later Monday night.
Fister (11-13) struck out nine and did not walk a batter while allowing three hits. The righthander, who has already been named the starter for Game 2 of Detroit’s division series, has not allowed more than one earned run in any of his last eight appearances.
Fister is 8-1 since being acquired from Seattle near the trading deadline.
Cabrera finished 3-for-5 to lift his average to .343, comfortably ahead of Texas’ Michael Young (.338) and Boston’s Adrian Gonzalez (.338).
The Tigers broke out with a three-run rally in the third inning and knocked Ubaldo Jimenez (10-13) out after tagging the righthander for six runs and nine hits in five innings.
They put it away with an eight-run surge in the eighth, highlighted by Young’s 11th homer.
Should the Tigers and Rangers finished tied, Detroit would get the No. 2 seed and meet the wild card winner by virtue of its 6-3 season series victory over Texas.