Aaron Civale tames Tigers in 4-1 victory

Aaron Civale nearly pitched a complete game shutout but had to settle for eight solid innings of work as Cleveland bested the Detroit Tigers, 4-1.

Cleveland led from the start as Cesar Hernandez homered on the second pitch of the game. Runs were scarce against Detroit starter Tarik Skubal, who pitched a solid five innings for the home team.

The only other run Skubal surrendered came in the fourth inning after putting runners on second and third base with no outs. Eddie Rosario scored from third on an Owen Miller groundout to extend Cleveland's lead to 2-0. Skubal kept them off balance pairing his four-seamer with an effective slider, striking out nine and only giving up six hits.

But he was outdueled by Aaron Civale. Civale was the steady hand Cleveland's rotation desperately needed on a day when the team lost yet another starting pitcher. He isn't the strikeout machine that Shane Bieber is, but he limited the Tigers to six hits and one earned run over eight innings of work.

Detroit didn't even have a runner in scoring position until the seventh inning when Akil Baddoo hit a two-out triple.

Cleveland padded their lead in the top of the eighth thanks to a two-run homer courtesy of Jordan Luplow, who has been in a bit of a rough patch at the plate of late.

Civale ran into trouble in the bottom of the ninth, giving up a leadoff single to Jeimer Candelario before walking Miguel Cabrera. James Karinchak took over in relief and promptly gave up an RBI single to Jonathan Schoop, breaking up the shutout. He then walked the bases loaded but recorded the final outs without further damage.