Prior to that, the Indians had just three base runners, with only Francisco Lindor reaching scoring position after a walk and a steal in the first inning.

“We know what he’s done in other games, but when a guy with his stuff has good command on a given night, he’s going to be hard to beat”, Indians manager Terry Francona said. “Quite frankly, I like Dr. Jekyll better than Mr. Hyde.”.

“Once he got a feel for his breaking ball, he was really tough”.

Left-hander Giovanni Soto, once traded from Detroit to Cleveland for Jhonny Peralta, made his major league debut with two out in the fifth inning.

■Running Raj: Rajai Davis hit a triple in the fourth to bring home Andrew Romine and scored on an infield single by Ian Kinsler. Collins hit a one-out solo house run to left-center and Davis hit a two-out RBI triple to finish Salazar’s night time.

“I don’t do anything differently against them than anyone else”, he said. Tomlin gave up the one run on four hits as he improved to 4-1.

J.D. Martinez and Tyler Collins each hit home runs while Alfredo Simon plus two relievers combined for a three-hit shutout Saturday night to help the Detroit Tigers put up a 6-0 victory over the Cleveland Indians for only their fourth win in 16 games. Detroit has lost 12 of its last 14 overall and its pitching staff has been ravaged for almost 10 runs per game over the last seven contests. Since the beginning of August, however, Ryan has yet to see a loss with a 4-0 record and 17 strikeouts in 27 2/3 innings for the Mud Hens. With the win, Tomlin improves to 4-1 on the year and the Indians move to within three games of that magical.500 mark. It was Brantley’s 42nd double this season, which leads all of baseball. J.D. Martinez (.287, 78 Rs, 35 HRs, 89 RBIs, 3 SBs) went 1 for 3 yesterday with one run, one home run, and two RBIs. “Jerry was getting us the big hits, and Josh was just sending them right back to the dugout”.

“I wouldn’t worry at 110-112 (pitches) if we had a six-run lead”, Ausmus said.

Lobstein started the season as the team’s sixth starting pitcher and found his way onto the 25-man roster when Justin Verlander went on the disabled list.

Kluber’s replacement could be Carlos Carrasco, who is recovering from a shoulder injury. Norris is scheduled to throw a light bullpen session on Sunday, with Sanchez due to follow on September 7.

Before the start of the 2015 season, both clubs were favorites to contend for the postseason.