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The Indians regrouped from a frustrating offensive performance on Sunday and let loose on the Tigers Monday afternoon. The Tribe blew out Detroit 10-2 with the help of a big third inning. Casey Blake started the explosion with a solo home run as the Indians went on to score six in the inning. Eduardo Perez was perfect on the day, going 3 for 3 with two doubles and two RBI. Paul Byrd rebounded from his first two starts, allowing only two runs in seven innings as the Indians were able to tie the four-game series.

“Byrd threw good today,” said Joel Skinner, who filled in for Eric Wedge because he was in Cleveland for the birth of his daughter. “He had a lot of strikes and his command was better than it had been in his last two starts. With the big lead he was able to be aggressive and throw with confidence.”

Eduardo Perez continues to impress with his ability to pound left-handed pitching. Jose Hernandez, who was brought in last year to do the same thing, didn’t work out too well but hopefully Shapiro got it right this time with Perez.

Chris Shelton hit a solo home run in the fourth and as it turns out, that’s all the Tigers needed to beat the Indians Sunday afternoon, 1-0. The Tribe wasted a stellar performance by Cliff Lee, who went 7 1/3 innings. Indians hitters could not solve Tiger starter Mike Maroth and only mustered up four hits the entire ballgame. They got a few chances with runners in scoring position but were unable to take advantage.

“He just kept the ball down, did a good job, made his pitches,” said Cleveland’s Grady Sizemore, who went 0-2 with a walk against Maroth. “We didn’t do a good job making adjustments, so we helped him out a little bit.”

Maroth is in the Kenny Rogers and Mark Buerhle mold. These soft-tossing lefties always seem to give Tribe hitters trouble. Offensively, the Indians like to be aggressive at the plate and adjusting to these types of pitchers has proven challenging for the Tribe.