DETROIT — (AP) Jose Ramirez homered twice on his 28th birthday, Shane Bieber took a shutout into the eighth inning and the Cleveland Indians snapped their eight-game losing streak with a 10-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers.
Bieber didn't allow a run until his final hitter, Willi Castro, hit a three-run homer in the eighth. That cost the Cleveland right-hander the major league ERA lead, but Bieber did become the first eight-game winner of this shortened season. He allowed four hits in 7 2/3 innings.
Casey Mize allowed three earned runs in 3 2/3 innings for Detroit. Ramirez drove in all of those runs, and he now leads the Tribe with 13 home runs and 32 RBIs.
With 10 games left, the 27-23 Indians still sit six games behind the Chicago White Sox for first place in the American League Central but now hold the seventh seed in the league's playoff standings, a half-game ahead of the No. 8 Toronto Blue Jays and five games clear of the Seattle Mariners. The 21-28 Tigers, who have lost 12 of their last 16, are five behind the Jays for the final postseason spot.
The two teams will meet again Friday night at 7:10 p.m. for the second of a four-game series, with Cleveland's Zach Plesac (3-2, 2.20 ERA) facing off against Detroit's Michael Fulmer (0-2, 9.27).
