DETROIT -- It's rare that a mid-inning visit to the mound can be seen as the decisive moment in a baseball game.

But that was the pivot point Sunday in the Cleveland Indians' 4-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers.

Rookie right-hander Cody Anderson (3-3) and two relievers combined to throw a three-hit shutout at Detroit so a single run would have sufficed. But the game turned on a visit to right-hander Justin Verlander (3-7) by manager Brad Ausmus with a 1-1 count on shortstop Francisco Lindor with runners on first and second in the sixth inning of a scoreless game.

Lindor showed bunt twice after left fielder Michael Martinez singled and second baseman Jason Kipnis was ruled safe on a single after Cleveland manager Terry Francona challenged an out call on his ground ball up the middle.

Second baseman Andrew Romine fielded the ball and had no chance to get Kipnis as he was traveling pell-mell up the middle. He flipped the ball to shortstop Dixon Machado in a vain attempt to get Martinez, and Kipnis was shown on the challenge to have beaten the relay to first.

Machado was showing the wheel play bunt coverage was on -- but apparently it wasn't.

"I went out because the infielders were running two different bunt plays," Ausmus said of his visit with count at 1-1. "I was trying to get them on the same page."

Meantime, Lindor wasn't operating on the same wavelength as his management.

"We actually took the bunt off after the first pitch," Francona said. "Lindor bunted anyway. Sometimes kids try to do what they think is the right thing."

"They had the wheel play (shortstop goes to cover third while the third baseman runs in for the bunt) on and I was trying to bunt the ball hard to short," Lindor said of his first-pitch try. The second pitch was inside so Lindor pulled back on the bunt. "I was going to try to bunt the second pitch hard to short, too."

But the visit to the mound by Ausmus gave Francona a chance to reset.

"I yelled at him to go hit," Francona said. "He runs good enough (to keep out of the double play). The one thing I was hoping is that he wasn't going to pop it up."

"You've got to tip your cap in that one inning," Verlander said. "I thought he was bunting, threw him a fastball, he put it in the gap. That's the difference in the ballgame right there.

"You've got to tip your cap to Lindor and Tito (Francona). Tito gave him green light and he executed it, when the whole world thought he was bunting.

"I was cognizant of him bunting. That's kind of why I threw in on him on the second pitch. On the 1-1 pitch, when I lifted my leg up and I looked at home and he wasn't squared up, I knew he wasn't bunting.

"It really wasn't a bad pitch. Up. Outside on the black. He was able to put a good swing on it."

And Lindor rifled it into deep right-center for a two-run triple. Lindor came home on first baseman Carlos Santana's one-out single to center.

Anderson came out having allowed two hits, walking two and striking out three. Right-hander Brian Shaw allowed a hit in the eighth and right-hander Cody Allen worked a clean ninth.

Anderson didn't allow a hit until Machado beat out a bunt single following a leadoff walk to center fielder Anthony Gose in the fourth. A double play in that inning and in the fifth, when he gave up a double plus a walk, helped him out of trouble.

Verlander held Cleveland hitless until center fielder Abraham Almonte tripled to center with two outs in the fifth. He worked seven innings, with seven hits (five in the sixth), two walks and four strikeouts.

Martinez singled in an add-on run in the ninth for Cleveland.

NOTES: Backup Indians C Roberto Perez took a foul tip off his hand Saturday and precautionary X-rays showed nothing amiss. "He's stiff but he's all right," manager Terry Francona said. ... Tigers RHP Anibal Sanchez (rotator cuff) is scheduled to throw a bullpen Monday with an eye toward returning to the rotation later this month. ... Indians LHP Giovanni Soto made his major league debut Saturday night, getting the last out of the fifth on one pitch. "We're going to keep an eye on him," Francona said, tongue in cheek, "but my guess is he'll probably be able to bounce back." ... Tigers manager Brad Ausmus held 2B Ian Kinsler out of the starting lineup Sunday in hopes of giving him a day off. He was used as a pinch hitter on Sunday and flied out in the eighth inning.