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Galarraga, Joyce help Tigers snap five-game skid

May 18, 2008 - 4:48 AM PHOENIX (Ticker) -- Rookie Armando Galarraga pitched well into the seventh and Matt Joyce homered as the Detroit Tigers snapped a five-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory over Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday.

Galarraga (3-1) allowed two runs and one hit in six-plus innings and departed with a 3-0 lead. The righthander struck out three and walked five.

Carlos Guillen plated a pair with a bases-loaded single in the fifth, and Joyce blasted a solo home run in the seventh for Detroit, which snapped a five-game skid and picked up its first win when scoring four runs or less.

"We didn't do a lot with the bats, but Galarraga was very, very good," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "He did a tremendous job and we were able to hang on."

The high-powered Tigers' offense did not need to do much damage thanks to Galarraga and some solid bullpen work. Galarraga (3-1) cruised through the first five innings, allowing just one hit.

"He was just funky," Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin said. "The ball gets on you a bit, movement whether it was the slider and he had just enough off his changeup, but late movement more than anything else was the problem we had with him."

However, he left in the sixth after issuing walks to Justin Upton and Mark Reynolds.

Clay Rapada walked pinch-hitter Eric Byrnes and Aquilino Lopez entered. Chris Snyder sliced the lead to 3-1 with a sacrifice fly to right field and Miguel Montero plate a run with a pinch-hit single to left-center that alluded a diving Curtis Granderson. Joyce backed up Granderson to keep Montero at first.

"I told Grandy (Granderson) whenever he wants to dive for a ball, I am right there to back him up," Joyce said. "That is a good defensive team, you have to back each other up. You have to go hard at balls to make the big play. Sometimes you miss them that is why you back up."

However, Lopez escaped the jam by getting Chris Young to hit into a 5-4-3 inning-ending double play. Francisco Cruceta threw a scoreless eighth and Todd Jones worked the ninth for his sixth save in as many chances.

"If we get our act together, we don't have to worry about any other teams. We have to get our problems worked out internally first - but a win is a win. You have to take them as you can," Jones said.

"That last ball was a little further then I thought it would be. If you do what I do it is pass/fail - and I knew it wasn't gone so it didn't matter."

Detroit took a 2-0 lead in the fifth when Arizona rookie starter Max Scherzer issued a two-out walk to Galarraga and Granderson singled. Joyce reached on fielding error by first baseman Conor Jackson, and Guillen then plated a pair with a single to center.

Joyce extended the lead to 3-0 with a one-out, solo shot off Brandon Medders in the seventh - his fourth of the season.

The Diamondbacks' top pitching prospect, Scherzer (0-2) allowed two runs and three hits in five innings with five strikeouts and four walks in his third career start.

"Walks kill you," Scherzer said. "I walked the pitcher. I was trying to go after him and get ahead, but I did it. I walked him. Once that happened, it was over and I tried to make good pitches to the next guy."