Tribe falls to Tigers for 11th straight loss

Tribe falls to Tigers for 11th straight loss
Indians swept as Carrasco hurt by four-run fourth inning

By Matt O'Donnell / MLB.com

09/24/09 10:27 PM ET

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CLEVELAND -- The Indians' losing streak has hit historic proportions.

Michael Brantley put the Tribe up early, but Carlos Carrasco couldn't get out of a troublesome fourth inning as the Indians lost, 6-5, Thursday night at Progressive Field. The loss was Cleveland's 11th straight and the 20th in the team's past 23 games.

The 11-game skid is the longest since the team lost a club-record 12 straight in 1931.

The Indians scored first when Trevor Crowe led off the third inning with a single and Andy Marte followed with a double. After Wyatt Toregas walked to load the bases, Brantley hit a seeing-eye single to score Crowe and Marte and give the Indians a 2-0 lead.

But with no outs and runners on second and third, the Indians wee unable to score another run in the inning.

That would prove costly.

Carrasco, who had pitched well up to the fourth, allowed a walk and four singles before finally getting an out. By that time, Detroit had scored four runs to put the Tigers up, 4-2. With Justin Verlander on the mound, that would be all they would need.

Reliever Jensen Lewis gave up an RBI double to Carlos Guillen in the seventh inning and Chris Perez yielded a run on a Placido Polanco single in the eighth.

Travis Hafner started a small rally in the ninth with an RBI double.

Shin-Soo Choo made things interesting with a two-run homer in the ninth inning that brought the Indians to within in a run.

Matt O'Donnell is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.