CLEVELAND, Ohio — Tribe closer Chris Perez writes killer endings to games for a living. He does it nightly.

But even Perez, the author of so many walk-off lines, didn't know how Tuesday night was going to end as he ran in from the bullpen to save the Indians' 5-3 victory over Detroit at Progressive Field.

"I didn't know what to expect," said Perez.

Perez criticized Indians fans Saturday for being last in attendance in the big leagues. He ripped them for booing him and blamed them, in part, for the team not being able to attract top free agents.

It didn't take Perez long to realize what the crowd of 15,049 thought of him. As he neared the mound, the fans gave him a standing ovation. The cheers grew louder as he retired Don Kelly to start the ninth. Then things veered off course, as they tend to do during a Perez save attempt.

Ramon Santiago walked, and Andy Dirks singled to put runners on the corners with the heart of the Tigers lineup, Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder, due to hit. Perez struck out Cabrera and induced Fielder to hit into a force play at second to convert his 14th straight save in 15 chances.

"I'm truly humbled," said Perez of the fans' response. "It didn't go unnoticed. Trust me. I'm humbled. It was really nice."

The reaction did not surprise Tribe manager Manny Acta.

"The majority of our fans are positive and supportive of this ballclub," he said. "It's just like in everything else, negativity is louder.

"Our fans appreciate it when people want to win and when people care. That guy does. Whether he says what people want to hear or not is another story. He gets out there and gives you everything he's got every day."

Asked if he regretted any of his statements over the past few days, Perez said: "The only thing I would take back is try to keep it away from the team this much. The last thing you want to do is bring undo attention to the team. Especially in this kind of light.

"At the same time, I think it kind of picked us up. The guys kind of said, 'Yeah, we're feeling like that, too. I'm glad you said something. I'm glad you didn't back down.' "

The win moved the first-place Tribe four games ahead of the third-place Tigers in the American League Central. The Chicago White Sox, in second, fell 31/2 games back with a 9-2 loss to the Minnesota Twins.

Indians right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez (4-3, 5.02 ERA) went six innings for the victory. He improve to 3-5 lifetime against Detroit.

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Jimenez, despite walking six, allowed just three runs. He struck out two and allowed five hits in 99 pitches.

Casey Kotchman and Jose Lopez gave the Indians a 5-3 lead in the sixth off Rick Porcello (3-4, 5.29). Michael Brantley opened the inning with a single and stole second. Johnny Damon struck out, but Kotchman singled to center for a 4-3 lead.

Porcello moved Kotchman to second with an errant pickoff attempt at first. Lopez, the only pure right-handed hitter in the Tribe's lineup, brought him home with a double off Brennan Boesch's glove in right field.

Lopez's double ended Porcello's night. Porcello allowed five runs -- four earned -- on eight hits in 51/3 innings.

Kotchman had three of the Tribe's 12 hits. After hitting .149 (10-for-67) in April, Kotchman is hitting .306 (19-for-62) in May.

"We found some holes and got great pitching out of Ubaldo and our bullpen," said Kotchman. "Ubaldo gave up three [runs] and kept us in it right there. Our bullpen . . . what more can you say? They just shut it down."

The Indians took a 1-0 lead on Asdrubal Cabrera's double off the center-field wall in the first inning. Jimenez held the lead for all of one out.

After retiring Delmon Young on a fly ball to center to start the second, Boesch doubled, Jhonny Peralta walked and Alex Avila hit a line-drive homer over the center-field wall for a 3-1 lead. Avila came into the game hitting .375 (3-for-8) against Jimenez.

"I learned a lesson," said Jimenez. "I started throwing my breaking ball earlier in the count. They were really aggressive in that inning."

Travis Hafner made it 3-2 with a two-out single in the third. He tied it in the fifth with a sacrifice fly.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: phoynes@plaind.com, 216-999-5158

On Twitter: @hoynsie