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Galarraga stellar as Tigers blank Dodgers

Jun 14, 2008 - 5:16 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- Armando Galarraga was not about to let an injured foot slow him down.

Galarraga pitched seven impressive innings and Marcus Thames and Magglio Ordonez homered as the Detroit Tigers opened their three-game interleague series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday with a 5-0 triumph.

Galarraga (6-2) yielded just two singles, a triple and a walk while striking out five en route to his third consecutive victory.

"Throw strikes, what I said before," Galarraga said of his success. "Be on the corner, down. My sinker was really good, my best pitch tonight, and the slider for strikeouts."

"He was in command pretty good all night," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "He was throwing strikes, mixed his pitches very well. They don't know him. I think he took advantage of that and pitched very well."

The righthander was hit on his right foot by Juan Pierre's leadoff infield single in the sixth and was attended to by Detroit's trainer but remained in the game and retired the final six batters he faced.

"It's good," Galarraga said of his ankle. "It's good right now, but I don't know about tomorrow. It's good. I don't think it's anything to worry about."

"I wasn't so much worried right away when it happened, more when he sat down for the inning," Leyland said. "I was a little worried about sending him back for the next inning. They put some stuff on it to try to keep the swelling down. He was OK."

Ryan Raburn went 3-for-3, scored a run and stole a base while Freddy Dolsi tossed two perfect frames to pick up his second save for the Tigers, who have won four straight and six of their last seven.

"Just trying to play good baseball," Thames said. "If we play good baseball, good things will happen. That's been our motto - keep coming out and playing good baseball. We've got a good ballclub. If we believe that, the 25 guys in here, we haven't given up on our season, so keep coming out and playing hard and good things will happen."

Derek Lowe (4-6) yielded three runs - two earned - and eight hits in seven innings, striking out five without a walk for Los Angeles, which has lost three in a row and four of five.

"(Lowe) battled all night long," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. "We've been putting pressure on our starters by not scoring any runs. He competed and gave it his all."

Galarraga and Lowe were locked in a pitchers' duel until the Tigers broke a scoreless tie in the fifth. Thames led off the frame with his eighth homer of the season and, after Brandon Inge struck out, Raburn singled, went to third on Curtis Granderson's double and scored on a sacrifice fly by Michael Hollimon.

"It was a sinker," Thames said of his home run. "He left it out over the plate. When I hit it, I thought it was going off the wall. I hit it hard and it kept going for me, gave us a little spark, and Hollimon came in with a sac fly and Magglio at the end with the home run. That's what it's going to take, all guys in here to chip in and do something so we can keep winning some ballgames."

Miguel Cabrera made it 3-0 in the sixth, when he hit a one-out double and scored on first baseman James Loney's error two batters later. Ordonez capped the scoring in the eighth, launching his 10th homer of the year - a two-run shot off Cory Wade.

The Dodgers threatened in both the second and sixth innings but could not push across a run against Galarraga.

With two outs in the second, Loney tripled and Andy LaRoche walked before Galarraga struck out Mark Sweeney to escape unscathed. After his leadoff single in the sixth, Pierre moved to second on a groundout and stole third but was stranded when Jeff Kent grounded out.

"Just trying to do my job all the time, do my best," Galarraga said. "I needed to show I can pitch in the big leagues."

"I really had never seen him before, but he threw strikes and commanded the zone," Pierre said. "We didn't put any pressure on him at all."

Sparks flew prior to Ordonez's home run in the eighth as Wade hit leadoff hitter Carlos Guillen with a pitch. Taking exception to both the pitch and Wade's ensuing actions, Guillen proceeded toward the mound, and both benches and bullpens emptied, but cooler heads prevailed with no punches being thrown.

"The ball just slipped," Wade explained. "I would throw at a batter when we're down by three runs. I was just pointing to first to him to take his base, to get the game going, and everything broke loose."

"I don't know (if it was intentional)," Guillen said. "I don't think so. It was the way he reacted. He started walking toward me, so I was like, 'What the (heck)?'"

Leyland did not believe Wade meant to hit Guillen.

"He wasn't throwing at Carlos, there's no doubt in my mind," Leyland said. "I think what happened, the reason there was any reaction is, the pitcher walked toward Carlos, talking to him, hollering at him. I think that's what started it up. ... But I want to make it perfectly clear that in no way, shape or form did we think he was throwing at anybody."