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CLEVELAND -- Even hours after Miguel Cabrera hit one of those home runs that define legends, the Tigers were still celebrating. And in awe. As they ate their postgame meals, Detroits players watched the clubhouse TVs, where a highlight of Cabreras two-run shot off rookie Danny Salazar in the eighth inning helped send them to a 6-5 win in 14 over the Cleveland Indians. When the ball left Cabreras bat disappeared into the sky, all the Tigers roared -- just as they did in the dugout. "He hit a massive home run," Torii Hunter said. "Thats why were here." Prince Fielder hit a two-run double in the 14th inning as the Tigers won their 11th straight and increased their lead in the AL Central to six games over the Indians, who may have left Salazar in for one too many pitches. After the Tigers put two runners on against Bryan Shaw (2-3), Fielder lined his double off Marc Rzepczynski into the gap as the Tigers beat the Indians for the 11th time in 12 games and improved to 12-3 against their nearest division rival. Jeremy Bonderman (2-3) pitched three innings in his first appearance for the Tigers since Oct. 1, 2010. Joaquin Benoit gave up a two-out RBI double to Michael Bourn and wild pitch before striking out Drew Stubbs with the tying run at third for his 14th save. Detroits winning streak is its longest since winning 12 in a row in 2011, and the Tigers can match that run with a win on Thursday when Max Scherzer tries to become baseballs first 17-game winner. A four-game sweep of the Indians wouldnt even be possible if not for Cabreras two-out homer -- a shot the Indians may remember for months. Making his second major league start, Salazar pitched brilliantly -- he struck out 10 in 7 2-3 innings -- but made one major mistake and Cabrera made him pay. With Detroit trailing 3-2, the slugger belted Salazars first pitch over the centre-field wall for his 33rd homer -- a 449-foot, no-doubt-about-it shot. Cabreras homer came after Hunter singled, but Indians manager Terry Francona decided to stick with the 23-year-old, who had struck out Cabrera in his first three at-bats. "If you strike Miguel Cabrera out three times, hes not going to want a fourth," Hunter said. "Hes going to make adjustments." Franconas choice to let Salazar pitch to Cabrera backfired. The Indians wanted to see what the right-hander in heat of the playoff chase and he delivered an electrifying performance with one unforgiveable glitch, a fastball down the middle of the plate that Cabrera nearly hit onto East 9th Street. After Cabrera rounded the bases, Francona went out and replaced Salazar, who received a thunderous ovation from appreciative Cleveland fans. Francona said he never considered taking Salazar out. "He was throwing about as well as you could," Francona said. "That would have been his last hitter, but to that point I would have had a hard time justifying having him not pitch. Thats how good I thought he was. I think he just left one over the middle. He didnt locate it." Salazar tried to throw another fastball past Cabrera, but the reigning Triple Crown winner was ready for it. "I got him a couple times with my fastball, so I was going to try it again. I left it in the middle and he hit it," Salazar said. "If you throw outside or inside to him it doesnt matter. Hes a great hitter, the best right now. He just hit that pitch really good." Austin Jackson hit a solo homer in the sixth for Detroit, now 24-7 since July 2. Regrouping after Cabreras dramatic shot, the Indians tied it 4-4 in the eighth on an RBI groundout by Gomes. The Indians had given Salazar a 3-2 lead in the seventh on Nick Swishers RBI double. Before Cabreras majestic, towering homer, Salazar had stifled the ALs top hitting team and showed poise beyond his years. With Corey Kluber out for at least one month -- and possibly longer -- with a sprained right middle finger, Salazar will fill the vacant spot in Clevelands rotation. He may stay there for a while. The Indians pushed back Ubaldo Jimenez so Salazar could face the Tigers, who were wary of his velocity and their lack of exposure to him. "That kid was really something special," Leyland said. "Its not very often that Im in the dugout saying, holy crap. But tonight, that was impressive. Man, he was throwing easy 98, 99, easy. That was pretty nasty." Salazar gave up a run in the second, but settled in and retired nine in a row before Jackson led off the sixth with his eighth homer to tie it 2-2. Salazar, though, was unfazed. He retired Hunter on a groundout, struck out Cabrera for the third time -- on a 100 mph fastball -- and popped up Fielder. Salazar was in trouble in the seventh, and again showed composure, stranding a runner at third. After his dazzling debut on July 11, when he took a no-hitter into the sixth against Toronto, the Indians were convinced Salazar was ready for a bigger test, and theres few bigger than the Tigers. If the kid was nervous, he certainly didnt show it. "He says the one place in the world hes most relaxed is on the mound," Francona said, "and thats what it looks like." NOTES: A former starter, Bondermans win was his first in his 215th career appearance. ... Cabrera, who picked up his 100th RBI on Tuesday, is just the sixth player in history to reach 100 RBIs in 10 consecutive seasons. He joined an elite list that includes Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Alex Rodriguez, Al Simmons and Albert Pujols. Hes also the second Tigers player to drive in at least 100 runs in six straight seasons, joining Harry Heilmann, who did it seven straight times from 1923-29. ... The Indians signed utilityman Ryan Raburn to a two-year, $4.85 million contract with a team option in 2016. Raburn could have tested the free agent market after this season, but the Indians locked him and may approach others for new deals, including starter Scott Kazmir. ... Tigers RHP Bruce Rondon unleashed several 103 mph fastballs in the eighth.Shoes Black Friday Deals 2020 . Aside from the trilogy main event title fight, there are a number of intriguing matchups in the heavyweight, welterweight and lightweight divisions. China Shoes Black Friday . Those lessons were more than enough to overwhelm the Utah Jazz. Lou Williams scored 25 points and the Hawks continued their offensive upswing as they rolled to an easy 118-85 victory over the Jazz on Friday night, winning their third straight and for the fourth time in five games. https://www.cheapshoesblackfriday.com/ . "It doesnt get any better than that," Giambi said. "Im speechless." The Indians are roaring toward October. Giambi belted a two-run, pinch-hit homer with two outs in the ninth inning to give Cleveland a shocking 5-4 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night, keeping the Indians up with the lead pack in the AL wild-card race. Buy Shoes Black Friday .R. Smith realized how easily basketball can be taken from him, and he wasnt going to take his place in the NBA for granted anymore. Cheap Shoes Black Friday . Denis Coderre, the former federal MP who was elected mayor on Nov. 3, has drawn the ire of some Montreal Canadiens. During last nights game he tweeted: "Hello? Can we get a one-way ticket to (minor-league) Hamilton for David Desharnais please.LOS ANGELES -- He took the field wearing generic baseball clothes -- white pants, navy shirt, navy cap -- looking like a guy in a commercial for a product that is not an official sponsor of Major League Baseball. He ran fast, especially for a 255-pound man with, as the press information helpfully included, 7.3 percent body fat. He threw the ball from the outfield about like an above-average high school player, and he caught fly balls with two hands, as you no doubt expected he would.This is Tim Tebow, in front of talent evaluators from 28 major league teams, standing alone on the USC baseball field with the sun beating down on him, trying to do something it would be all too easy to ridicule.The event was suffused with an unearned air of seriousness. More than 200 people -- scouts, media, helpers -- strode onto the outfield grass to watch him run a 60-yard dash. They stood in center field and down the left-field line while he fought his own feet and muscled his way through a series of throws from right field. They wrote stuff down. They thought about it. They said things like, Hes clearly very athletic, even though that wasnt ever the question.And afterward, his coach Chad Moeller testified to Tebows determination and commitment, as coaches have been doing for more than a decade, and marveled at the effort it takes to get the bat out of his hands when he has had enough for the day. At one point, to demonstrate his commitment to the cause, Tebow opened his hands to allow doubters to gaze upon his bat-callused palms.?Its probably best to leave that symbolism alone.The one thing everybody wanted to know can be condensed into one word: Why? Why would a 29-year-old football icon who hasnt played baseball since his junior year in high school put himself through this? Why would he enter the public forum and subject himself to the snide and withering comments of people who know how hard it is to play this game for money?In some form or another, he was asked those questions. As you might expect, he issued a passionate and fierce rendition of, Why not?The goal would be to have a career in the big leagues, he said. The pursuit of it is to give it all you can, be the best you can, be someone to pursue what I feel passionate about. People will say, What if you fail? What if you dont make it? Guess what? I dont have to live with regret. I did everything I could. I pushed it. I would rather be someone who can live with peace and no regret rather than being so scared I didnt make the effort.Once he got rolling, even the most skeptical among us was at least glancing at the cage, wondering if we should grab a bat and give it a try. Asked about the skeptics, those who question his motivation or suggest a thirst for publicity, those who decry the fact that 28 teams sent people to watch a 29-year-old guy who hasnt played since his junior year in high school when players with real talent cant get a look, Tebow said, Im thankful they dont get to make the choices for my life.He kept going. Its what he does. He didnt have to either, because he could have mouthed a few platitudes and it probably wouldnt have affected the decision of some team to put him in a minor league uniform for a few months, if only to sell a few million dollars worth of T-shirts.With Tebow, youre encouraged to distrust your eyes. Yeah, he looked like a tight end in the outfield, falling down at one point picking up a ball off the warning track. He couldnt pull a pitch from former big leaguers Chad Smith and David Aardsma. He two-hopped a throw from medium right to third base, and it was up the line, too.But then the man staarts talking, and you wonder if maybe you were wrong.dddddddddddd. Maybe you were being too harsh. After all, he did hit a few batting-practice fastballs high into the trees beyond right field. Maybe this, this mixed bag of results at the end of several months of work, is just the first step toward this man proving everyone wrong. You come away thinking, Damn, does this guy ever try. And does he ever care. He is the most overtly trying-est and caring-est dude of his generation.If you fail, if you fall on your face, thats OK, he said. When did that become such a bad thing? When did pursuing what you love become a bad thing, regardless of the result?In January, Tebow was working out on the USC practice football field, next to the baseball field. After he finished his workouts with quarterback coach Tom House, Tebow would wander over to the baseball field, where a group of major and minor league players were getting ready for spring training.Ryan Rowland-Smith, a former Seattle Mariners reliever, was one of the players working out. They werent really interested in Tebow; they were there to get ready for spring training. It was serious business. But Tebow kept hanging around, picking up bats and wondering if he could take a few swings.I could tell he wanted to have a hit, Rowland-Smith said. He kept asking. You know, guys are trying to get their work in. They want to face good hitters to get ready. He just kept talking about the itch.Its impossible to know what was going on over on the football field with Tebow and House going through drills to improve Tebows delivery for roughly the millionth time. Quick release, elbow up -- whatever it was, you have to figure, in the quiet of January, those drills pushed Tebow closer to the realization that he would never again play quarterback in the NFL. And so he drifted over to the baseball field, with nothing more than high school credentials to his name, asking for a turn.And one day Rowland-Smith relented. Like a guy letting his little brother have a turn, he told Tebow to get in the batters box. He threw him a few fastballs at about 80 percent, and when Tebow squared one up, Rowland-Smith, a left-hander, broke off a curve.He missed it by three feet, Rowland-Smith said. He was serious, and so was I. I wanted to get my work in, so I threw a breaking ball. Not a great one, not a bad one. When I face hitters, 30 seconds into it I can tell the difference between a pro hitter and someone who isnt.He lets that hang there. Hes not making judgments, just telling a story. If he wasnt Tim Tebow, there wouldnt be people out there to watch him, Rowland-Smith says. But more power to him. People are drawn to him.Tebow might have given up on that curveball, but that doesnt mean he gave up. After all, Tebow never gives up. Thats why he went to camp with the Jets, and camp with the Patriots, and camp with the Eagles. Its why he enlisted Moeller to coach him and the powerhouse agents at CAA to represent him. Its why he didnt work out in private and then sign with an independent league team.Does he refuse to give up because he cant? Because hes addicted to the rush, to the adulation, to the idea that he can do precisely what all those believers believe he can, and all those detractors believe he cant? Thats the part of why even he cant answer, and its exactly why its hard to shake the image of the guy at USC on those January days, sensing on one field the end of something, and on the other the beginning of something else. ' ' '