DETROIT -- Terry Francona isn't about to get giddy just because his Cleveland Indians are on a nine-game winning streak and are 9-0 against the division rival Detroit Tigers.

First-place Cleveland clubbed four home runs off Justin Verlander in a six-run fifth inning Sunday to overpower the Tigers, 9-3, and sweep its third three-game series with Detroit this season.

"I've sat in this chair a lot of nights, grumpy," Francona said in assessing the Indians' hot streak, "and then gotten on the bus trying to figure out how we can pull it together."

"They had a couple outstanding outings by a couple starters," testy Detroit manager Brad Ausmus said after his club dropped to .500 again. "They just right now, they have our number. There's no other way to explain it."

Detroit entered the weekend with two of its better starters lined up, Jordan Zimmermann and Verlander, and Cleveland raked both.

"He's obviously been throwing the ball pretty good," Francona said of Verlander, who allowed nine hits and eight runs in 4 2/3 innings, his shortest outing since working 4 1/3 in his second start of the season. "He's flipping the ball up there free and easy.

"He left some balls up, which is uncharacteristic of him, and we took advantage of it."

Mike Napoli and Lonnie Chisenhall each hit two-run home runs, their 16th and third homers of the season respectively, in the fifth off Verlander (7-6) and this was after Juan Uribe and Tyler Naquin opened the inning with solo shots, their seventh and sixth round-trippers respectively.

"It really sucks," Verlander said. "After I worked my tail off for the last couple of months to get to where I want to be, then to have it all blow up in my face.

"It's still early, but obviously we've got to play better, against these guys specifically."

"It seems like big swings is how we're playing," Ausmus said. "We win four in row, drop three in a row, win four out five, lose five out of six. It's kind of been that way all year."

Josh Tomlin (9-1) struggled with his control for four innings but then settled in to work eight before turning it over to Zach McAlister for the ninth. Tomlin struck three, walked one and allowed six hits, three of which were solo home runs.

"When we get a lead," Francona said, "(Tomlin) knows what to do. He's around the plate and he stays off the barrel of the bat."

Victor Martinez hit two homers off Tomlin. His 13th came with one out in the fourth and his 14th opened the sixth to make it 8-3.

Yan Gomes grounded an RBI single to center after Chisenhall's fourth hit, a triple to right, in the eighth to make it 9-3. Chisenhall was a double shy of hitting for the cycle.

Mike Martinez walked and Lindor singled him to third to begin the fourth. Martinez scored and Lindor went to second on Verlander's wild pitch to tie the score at 1. Chisenhall grounded an RBI single to right for a 2-1 Indians lead.

"Give the Indians credit," Ausmus said. "They came in and stuck it to us. They were playing well before they got here and they played well here.

They pitched better. They hit a little bit better too. They own us so far. There's still a lot of time to go."

Mike Aviles opened the third inning with his first home run of the season, a fly ball down the left-field line off Tomlin that gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead.

"Now we've got to get ready to play the next team," Tomlin said. "We've got to get on a plane, go to Atlanta and do our job. We've got to go out and beat Atlanta."

NOTES: Cleveland's nine-game winning streak after Sunday was its longest since ending the 2013 season with 10 wins in a row. ... Indians 2B Jason Kipnis was held out of the game Sunday. Manager Terry Francona took him out after seven innings Saturday because he was cramping up. ... Tigers RF Steven Moya missed his second straight game Sunday due to right knee soreness. "If a guy's complaining of a knee issue, why play him?" manager Brad Ausmus said. ... Ausmus said RHP Mike Pelfrey, scheduled to start Tuesday, would have been available in relief Sunday. He threw 48 pitches in out of the bullpen Friday, working 4 1/3 innings.