Two-year-old English bulldog Hugo is raising a lion and tiger as his own pups. He eats, sleeps and even disciplines his adopted children, Igor and Ice.

Doug Fister pitched eight strong innings and Alex Avila drove in three runs to help the Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians 14-0 last night.

Justin Verlander and Fister, who are scheduled to start the first two games of Detroit's first-round playoff series, are now acombined 14-0 with a 1.61 ERA in 16 appearances since August 16th.

Fister, who allowed three singles while striking out nine, has been even better than the Cy Young favorite in the stretch, going 7-0 with a 0.65 ERA in his last eight outings. Fister (11-13), who was picked up in a six-player deal with Seattle on July 30th, hasnow gone 20 innings without walking a batter.

Ubaldo Jimenez (4-4), another pitcher the Tigers looked at before acquiring Fister, gave up six runs on nine hits and three walks in five innings.

The Indians and the Tigers play game two of their three-game series tonight in Detroit. Jeanmar Gomez will start for the Tribe tonight against Maz Scherzer for the Tigers.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)