DETROIT -- It had been more than 200 games since Jay Bruce last hit a triple. He picked an awfully good time to end that streak.
Bruce delivered a one-out, pinch-hit triple in the ninth inning of Friday's 3-2 win over the Tigers in Game 1 of a doubleheader at Comerica Park. He turned out to be the winning run as Francisco Lindor picked him up two pitches later with a single up the middle.
 

With September callups going into effect Friday, Bruce's triple was in part a product of the expanded rosters, Indians manager Terry Francona said. He added that it's a bit of adjustment in September to go from three or four pinch-hitters available to looking up and having options aplenty.
"He's a pretty good pinch-hitter," Francona said. "You don't want to overdo it, but once they tied it [in the eighth], we got some guys sitting over there that are pretty good hitters. And they stayed ready, which helps a bunch."
Bruce, who had six triples in the first half of 2016, said Tigers reliever Shane Greene left a slider over the plate and he simply didn't miss it.
"It's one of those deals where you go up there and you try to take a quality at-bat, you try and get a good pitch," Bruce said. "Obviously, Greene's tough. He's got a lot of weapons to get you out."
Bruce is batting .290 since coming over from the Mets earlier in August, but he had gone hitless in his past four games, so it felt good to come up big for his new team.
"Guys are taking care of business," Bruce said. "They come here, they prepare, we work, we're ready to play. I think they expect it out of themselves, which means they can expect it out of each other. Everyone's holding themselves accountable, and I think that's a huge part of why we've had so much success."