DETROIT — Detroit Tigers starter Michael Pineda was knocked out of the game after just four batters, but that ended up being just a bump in the road as the Tigers won back-to-back games for the first time since April 21-23, beating the Baltimore Orioles 3-0 Saturday afternoon at Comerica Park.
Pineda took a line drive from the bat of Ramon Urias off his right hand to start the top of the second inning. The ball left Urias’ bat with an exit velocity of 106 mph and caromed to second baseman Jonathan Schoop who threw to first for the out.
Pineda was unable to continue and Tigers manager AJ Hinch told reporters after game he had been diagnosed with a broken finger. The Tigers are already down three starting pitchers — Casey Mize (elbow), Matt Manning (shoulder) and Tyler Alexander (elbow).
Veteran right-hander Wily Peralta stepped in to help keep the train on the tracks. Pineda got the first four outs and Peralta got the next eight, allowing just two walks. Over his last 15 1/3 innings, Peralta has allowed just one earned run with 15 strikeouts.
Right-hander Jason Foley, just called back up from Triple-A Toledo, pitched two scoreless innings, allowing two singles.
The Tigers played stellar defense behind all three, turning four double-plays. They’ve turned 13 double-plays on ground balls in the last 13 games.
Robbie Grossman, too, made two harder-than-they-looked plays in right field, both against Trey Mancini. Twice Mancini hit screamers directly over Grossman's head — the first left his bat at 103 mph, the other at 101. Both times Grossman read them expertly and made the catch on the track.
Joe Jimenez (one inning, one strikeout), Andrew Chafin (one inning, two strikeouts) and Gregory Soto (one inning, one hit, one strikeout) closed it out.
The Tigers didn’t generate a ton of offense against Orioles’ lefty starter Bruce Zimmermann, just enough.
Jonathan Schoop led off the second with a double into the corner in left and took third on a misplay by left fielder Ryan McKenna. He scored on a sacrifice fly by Willi Castro.
Then with one out in the fifth, catcher Eric Haase lined a 90-mph sinker just over the fence in left-center. It was his second homer of the season, his first since Opening Day.
Castro knocked Zimmermann out of the game in the seventh, leading off with his first home run of the season. He jumped a first-pitch slider and lined it into the Tigers bullpen in left. Castro’s last big-league homer came last Aug. 19.
Miguel Cabrera contributed two more hits and a walk. He's 4 for 6 in the two games against the Orioles. His career hit total stands at 3,018.
