Upton makes up for gaffe with 2 rocket HRs

CLEVELAND — Justin Upton threw his hands up early as Mike Napoli’s first-inning fly ball was still high up in the early evening sky. Try as he could to find the ball again, the Tigers left fielder knew he was in trouble.

He never caught a glimpse of the ball on its way down. He reacted when he heard it bounce on the warning track behind him, bouncing all the way over the high, 19-foot, left-field wall as Cleveland’s first two runs came home.

“He lost it from the get-go,” manager Brad Ausmus said after Detroit’s 11-4 loss Friday night pushed it seven games behind first-place Cleveland in the American League Central and three games out of an AL Wild Card spot. “It’s a harrowing feeling when you know it’s up there somewhere and you can’t seem to find it and you know that, if it drops, runs are going to score. You feel kind of helpless out there.”

Upton reacted with what he could control. His two home runs off Corey Kluber had nowhere near the altitude of Napoli’s fly ball, but they were lost in a hurry to the seats in right-center field.

If Upton’s misplay in left …

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