DETROIT — Tigers lefty Eduardo Rodriguez, 30, made his 174th big-league start Tuesday in Game 2 of a doubleheader.
Guardians right-hander Peyton Battenfield, 25, made his second big-league start.
The two put on a show but the older maestro won the day. Rodriguez pitched eight four-hit, shutout innings, with 10 strikeouts, helping the Tigers complete a doubleheader sweep of the Cleveland Guardians, 1-0, at Comerica Park. The Tigers have won five in a row.
The lone run was an opposite-field home run in the sixth inning by Riley Greene.
Right-hander Jason Foley finished it off, earning a save with a clean ninth inning.
It was Rodriguez's longest outing as a Tiger and his longest since 2019. It was his ninth double-digit strikeout day.
He was conducting his business with four-seam fastballs, cutters, sinkers and changeups. He was precisely sequencing and spotting each pitch. His four-seamer generated seven swinging strikes and eight called strikes. The cutter got five whiffs and three called strikes.
All four base runners reached on singles. He needed just 99 pitches to get through eight innings. Of his 10 strikeouts, he got Cleveland's perennial All-Star Jose Ramirez three times.
Cleveland slugger Josh Naylor hit the longest ball off Rodriguez. It traveled 362 feet and looked to headed for the seats. But right-fielder Matt Vierling raced back and timed his leap perfectly, catching the ball well over the 7-foot wall.
Battenfield was using a whiffle-ball cutter to do most of his bidding. He threw 48 of them with a velocity range of 85-90 mph. The Tigers swung at 44% of those outside the strike zone and missed 11 times on 33 swings.
He worked six innings and allowed three hits. One of those, though, ended up being the difference in the game.
Greene stayed on a 1-2 four-seam fastball on the outside part of the plate and lined it oppo, inside the left-field foul pole. It was Greene’s second homer of the season.
