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Cabrera, Tigers use power strokes to rout O's

Jun 2, 2013 - 2:49 AM Baltimore, MD (Sports Network) - Miguel Cabrera belted a grand slam, one of four Detroit homers during an eight-run fourth inning that carried the Tigers to a 10-3 rout of the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards.

Victor Martinez, Jhonny Peralta and Alex Avila all homered in succession to begin the big inning, with Prince Fielder adding a solo blast of his own later in the game to help the Tigers halt a string of four straight losses. That included a 7-5 setback in Friday's opener of this three-game set, during which the Orioles scored four times in the bottom of the ninth to prevail.

Peralta, Omar Infante and Matt Tuiasosopo each had two hits and an RBI, while Justin Verlander (7-4) allowed three runs on eight hits over seven effective innings to win his third consecutive start.

"We were able to come back," said Tuiasosopo in reference to Friday's loss. "We had our ace on the mound and we wanted to come out and give him some runs early and just keep putting pressure on [the Orioles]. It was just a good team win."

Jason Hammel (7-3) served up Detroit's back-to-back-to-back homers, then was ejected after hitting Tuiasosopo with his next pitch. The right-hander ended the day charged with five runs on five hits and three walks over three-plus innings.

J.J. Hardy was the lone bright spot for Baltimore, which had a three-game win streak snapped, by smacking a pair of solo homers off Verlander.

Hammel had held Detroit's powerful offense mostly in check through the first three innings, but fell behind Martinez and the veteran DH hammered a 3-1 pitch inside the right-field line to break a 1-1 tie at the start of the fourth.

Peralta followed with a liner into the left-field seats before Avila sent a deep drive into the Baltimore bullpen for a 4-1 Detroit lead.

Hammel's next pitch, a slider that appeared to slip out of his grip and struck Tuiasosopo in the upper left arm, would be his last after home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt immediately called for the hurler's ejection.

"There was zero intent [to hit Tuiasosopo] there, that's all I have to say about that," said Hammel afterward.

The Tigers then teed off on replacement T.J. McFarland to put the game well out of reach.

Tuiasosopo came home on an Infante double in front of a walk to Andy Dirks that loaded the bases for Cabrera, who yanked McFarland's full-count offering into the stands for a grand slam that capped the eight-run outburst.

The Orioles did manage to slightly close the gap with single runs in their next two at-bats. Chris Davis' two-out single brought in Manny Machado, who drew a walk against Verlander to open the bottom of the fourth, while Hardy launched his second homer of the day an inning later to trim the deficit to 9-3.

Fielder crushed a McFarland slider in the sixth for the Tigers' final run of the game, with Troy Patton and Tommy Hunter limiting Detroit to just two hits over the last three innings.

Tuiasosopo gave Detroit a 1-0 edge with a two-out single in the top of the second that plated Martinez, one of three players walked by Hammel over the initial two frames. Hardy quickly evened things up, though, with a line-drive shot that cleared the left-center field wall in the Orioles' half of the frame.

Game Notes

Cabrera's homer was his 200th in a Tigers' uniform and fourth career grand slam ... Hardy achieved his 10th career two-homer game and first since Sept. 11 of last season against Tampa Bay ... Verlander improved to 8-0 in 12 career starts against Baltimore and is now 6-0 with a 2.29 ERA in seven outings at Camden Yards ... Detroit outfielder Torii Hunter missed a second straight game while attending his son's high school graduation in Texas ... The Orioles are only the sixth team since 1921, and first since the 2003 Yankees, to have six players (Davis, Adam Jones, Hardy, Nick Markakis, Matt Wieters) with 30 or more RBI entering June ... Hammel fell to 1-3 with a 7.33 ERA in five home starts this season.