Kluber bounces back and Indians rout Tigers 8-1; three takeaways

DETROIT-- The Cleveland Indians bounced back from a tough loss with plenty of offensive firepower in their 8-1 win over the Detroit Tigers on Sunday afternoon.

Tribe ace Corey Kluber earned his 13th win of the year, while Detroit's Jordan Zimmermann drops to 4-3.

While Kluber bounced back after a rough pair of starts, it certainly helped that the Indians came through with some key at-bats. Five guys recorded multi-hit games in the 16-hit afternoon for the Tribe.

Here are three takeaways from the win as Cleveland gets ready to head to Minnesota tomorrow.

1. Kluber bounces back

The Indians ace surrendered one run in the first inning on a Nicholas Castellanos RBI groundout. After that, however, Kluber settled in and went 7 1/3 innings, surrendering just five hits and striking out five batters.

Throughout his outing on Sunday (his second start post-knee injection) Kluber was back to using a more even mix of his pitches. He threw 25 cutters, 23 sinkers and 21 curveballs to go along with 12 four-seam fastballs and 13 changeups.

Against Detroit this season, Kluber has been absolutely dominant. He's now recorded 26 strikeouts while allowing just three earned runs through 23 1/3 total innings against the Tigers this season. Against the AL Central this season, Kluber now has a 1.26 ERA through 61 innings pitched.

A little bit of math … @rajai11davis + Comerica Park gaps = 3 extra base hits 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️#RallyTogether https://t.co/eAqkxfNWVJ
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) July 29, 2018

2. Keep the hits coming

The Indians had five players record more than one hit: Yonder Alonso, Melky Cabrera and Rajai Davis all went 3-of-5 from the plate. Alonso also chipped in three RBI, two of which came on a two-run homer in the third inning. Cabrera added one with a solo homer in the second inning.

All three of Davis' hits were for extra bases, including a triple in the fourth inning. It was the fourth three-hit game of Davis' career, and the first by an Indians 9-hole hitter since Drew Stubbs on May 23, 2013 against the Red Sox.

Edwin Encarnacion and Jason Kipnis also each went 2-for-4 from the plate, including a solo homer for Encarnacion in the seventh inning.

3. The long ball seals the deal

A mixture of Kluber on the mound and home runs are typically a winning recipe for the Indians, and proved to be so once again on Sunday.

Thanks to Encarnacion, Alonso and Cabrera, Cleveland hit three total for the afternoon.

The bombs made it the 19th game this season for the Tribe with at least three home runs-- that's the third-most in Major League Baseball at present. With the eight total runs, the Indians continue to lead the league in runs scored this month with 143.

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