Indians 4, Tigers 0: Mike Aviles belted his first career grand slam in the ninth inning as visiting Cleveland avoided a three-game sweep.

The Indians finally broke through against Joaquin Benoit (4-1) as Carlos Santana and Michael Brantley each drew a walk before Asdrubal Cabrera advanced them with a sacrifice. Jason Kubel was walked intentionally to load the bases for Aviles, who sent a 2-2 slider just over the wall in left field.

Joe Smith (6-2) worked around a hit and a walk in the eighth for the victory and Chris Perez overcame an eventful ninth to end it. The Indians, who trail the first-place Tigers by 7 1/2 games in the American League Central and Tampa Bay by 3 1/2 for the second wild-card spot, finished their season series against Detroit with a 4-15 record.

The Tigers made things interesting against Perez as Omar Infante hit a ground-rule double to deep left-center and Alex Avila reached on an infield single, but the ball struck Infante for the second out of the inning. Ramon Santiago followed with a single and both runners moved up on a passed ball before Andy Dirks grounded out.

Detroit starter Justin Verlander yielded four hits over seven scoreless innings and counterpart Danny Salazar gave up six hits and struck out five over six frames. The Indians rookie averted danger in the third, when Aviles threw out Avila at home from third, while Verlander did not allow a baserunner past second base until the seventh.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Detroit 3B Miguel Cabrera (strained abdomen) did not play for the second straight day and CF Austin Jackson (right shoulder) was out of the lineup after hitting the wall while trying to make a catch in Saturday’s win. … Salazar was struck in the right thigh by a line drive off the bat of Victor Martinez in the fourth but collected himself to record the out at first and remained in the game. … Martinez, who went 1-for-4, is batting 17-for-32 during an eight-game hitting streak.