Orioles 3 - 1 Tigers
Final
  for this game

Tillman, O's hand Tigers 1st loss

Apr 6, 2014 - 10:40 PM Detroit, MI (SportsNetwork.com) - Chris Tillman outdueled Tigers' ace Justin Verlander as the Baltimore Orioles handed Detroit its first loss with 3-1 victory at Comerica Park.

Adam Jones hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the eighth inning, and Matt Wieters provided insurance with a ninth-inning home run off Detroit reliever Al Alburquerque.

"Our offense came up big late in the game," Tillman said.

Tillman (1-0) retired the first 10 batters he faced before Torii Hunter homered to left field with one out in the fourth. The Baltimore right-hander allowed only three more hits through eight innings and returned to the mound in the ninth eyeing his second career complete game.

However, a one-out double ripped down the first-base line by Victor Martinez ended his outing. Tommy Hunter took over and retired the next two batters to earn his second save.

Verlander (0-1) gave up two runs on five hits, walked two and struck out three over eight innings.

"(Tillman) pitched extremely well and we weren't able to score much," Verlander said.

The Tigers last started 5-0 in 2006.

Baltimore tied the game in the game sixth with a pair of doubles. Jones drove a Verlander pitch to deep center field and scored when Nelson Cruz found the gap in right-center with two outs.

The O's grabbed the lead two innings later. Nick Markakis reached third on a ball hit into the right-field corner and Jones followed with a sac fly to left.

Game Notes

The Tigers have hit a home run in the first five games of a season for the first time since 2009 ... Verlander passed Tommy Bridges for fourth place on the club's all-time strikeouts list. He entered Sunday with 1,673 career strikeouts, one behind Bridges ... The O's had allowed at least nine hits in each of their first five games.






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