Jeimer Candelario hit a two-run homer and the visiting Detroit Tigers opened a three-game series with an 9-4 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday.
Will Castro drove in three runs with a triple and a double for Detroit in a game that started 1 hour, 54 minutes late due to rain.
Detroit's Miguel Cabrera, who has 498 career homers, went 1-for-3 with a single and a walk.
A scary moment occurred in the eighth inning when Tigers outfielders Akil Baddoo and Derek Hill, both running full speed, collided in left-center as Hill made the catch on a ball hit by Anthony Santander.
Both players remained on the ground as the trainer came out. Eventually both were able to walk off slowly as they were replaced in the lineup.
Santander hit two solo homers and DJ Stewart also homered for the Orioles, who have lost six straight.
Staked to a 6-1 lead, Tigers starter Casey Mize couldn't make it through the fifth inning. He was charged with four runs, three earned, on five hits, including three home runs in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out four and walked one.
Kyle Funkhouser (6-1) earned the win, tossing 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.
Orioles starter Keegan Akin (0-6), lasted just three innings, allowing six runs on seven hits and a walk with five strikeouts.
The Tigers took a 2-0 lead in the second inning. With two outs, Niko Goodrum walked, Castro doubled him home and Baddoo followed with an RBI triple.
Baltimore cut the deficit to 2-1 when Santander led off the bottom of the second with a homer to right.
Akin was roughed up in the third. Robbie Grossman singled and scored on a double by former Oriole Jonathan Schoop. After Cabrera singled to put runners at first and third, Akin struck out two batters. However, Goodrum's single scored Schoop, and Castro tripled home Cabrera and Goodrum to make it 6-1.
Santander and Stewart connected for solo homers in the fourth to pull the Orioles within 6-3.
In the Baltimore fifth, Cedric Mullins double and went to third on a wild pitch. Ramon Urias's grounder resulted in a throwing error by Mize as Mullins scored to make it 6-4.
The Tigers added some late insurance. In the eighth, Cabrera walked and Candelario homered to increase the lead to 8-4. Grossman's RBI single in the ninth capped the scoring.
--Field Level Media
Detroit | Baltimore | |
Casey Mize | Player | Keegan Akin |
No Decision | W/L | Loss |
4.1 | IP | 3.0 |
4 | Strikeouts | 5 |
5 | Hits | 7 |
6.23 | ERA | 18.00 |
Detroit | Baltimore | |
Willi Castro | Player | Anthony Santander |
2 | Hits | 2 |
3 | RBI | 2 |
0 | HR | 2 |
5 | TB | 8 |
.500 | Avg | .500 |