Cleveland 3 at Detroit 6 - Recap

DETROIT -- Miguel Cabrera lined a tiebreaking three-run homer through a hard rain into the right field seats with one out in the fifth inning to give the Detroit Tigers a five-inning, weather-shortened 6-3 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday night.

The game was halted after a second play stoppage, this one for 72 minutes, with five innings completed. The Detroit win kept the Tigers one game behind Baltimore, which currently holds the American League's second wild-card berth and also won Wednesday night.

Jose Iglesias opened the fifth with a line single to right off rookie Joseph Colon (1-3) that Lonnie Chisenhall lost in the lights, with the ball bouncing off his glove hand. Cameron Maybin grounded a single to left and Cabrera hit the first pitch on a line over the right field wall, his 36th home run of the season.

Blaine Hardy (1-0) picked up the win for Detroit with 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief following rookie Michael Fulmer, who had control problems that didn't go away after a 45-minute rain delay between halves of the third inning.

Play resumed even with light rain falling because of a gloomy forecast. The rain continued until the game was called.

Detroit gave Fulmer a 3-1 lead, but an RBI single by Rajai Davis with one out in the fourth made it 3-2 and chased the rookie, leaving him and his 3.06 ERA three innings shy of qualifying for the league ERA title. Carlos Santana grounded a two-out RBI single to left center off Hardy to tie the score.

The Tigers wasted no time teeing off on reliever Cody Anderson after the first rain delay. James McCann and Iglesias each yanked doubles to left and Ian Kinsler drilled the first pitch he saw into the seats in left center, his 27th home run of the season to give Detroit a 3-1 lead.

The Indians loaded the bases against Fulmer with nobody out in the third on a single plus two walks, but the rookie got two infield popups and a groundout to strand all three runners. A strikeout and flyout had left Indians at the corners in the second.

Cleveland scored in the opening inning when Jason Kipnis walked and came home on a two-out double to the wall in right center by Santana.

NOTES: 3B Nick Castellanos, who had a pinch-double after being activated off the disabled list on Tuesday, returned to Detroit's starting lineup for the first time since getting hit on the hand by a pitch Aug. 5. ... Indians manager Terry Francona has settled on his pitching rotation for the remainder of the regular season. LHP Ryan Merritt starts Thursday, RHP Adam Plutko on Friday, followed by RHP Trevor Bauer and RHP Josh Tomlin. ... Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said RHP Ryan Zimmermann will open Detroit's series in Atlanta, followed by LHP Matt Boyd or RHP Buck Farmer on Saturday and RHP Justin Verlander on Sunday. ... Because Cleveland OF Abraham Almonte is ineligible for the postseason, OFs Coco Crisp and Rajai Davis will get most of the corner outfield play through Sunday, Francona said.