Tigers get back to .500 on Justin Upton walk off HR

The Mariners are losers of 12 of 18 in June to fall 8 1/2 games behind the Texas Rangers, who are attempting to run away with the American League West. The Tigers were one of four teams fighting over the top spot in the AL Central before three consecutive losses to the Kansas City Royals over the weekend dropped them one game under.500.

On Tuesday night the Tigers host the Seattle Mariners with Justin Verlander getting the start.

Erik Kratz’s home run was the sole score as the Pittsburgh Pirates ended the San Francisco Giants’ eight-match winning run with a 1-0 victory while the Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Angels 10-7.

The Tigers also are dancing around Michael Fulmer’s innings limit, stretching his rest between starts and using Norris, Mike Pelfrey and Sanchez to fill in.

Seattle Mariners pitcher Nathan Karns follows through on a throw to the Detroit Tigers during the first inning of a baseball game in Detroit, Monday, June 20, 2016. They collected a season-high 19 hits and opened their 11th and 12th innings with doubles.

Seattle has Jamex Paxton on the mound to face Justin Verlander of the Tigers.

And it wasn’t until the 12th that Upton settled the game off a Vidal Nuno pitch. 234 with six homers and 28 RBIs. Benoit went 2.0 innings giving up only 2 hits, while striking out 1.

The Tigers had lost three in a row before taking the first two games in this series. The veteran utility infielder fouled off two pitches from Paxton, who was looking for the strikeout.

Miguel Cabrera hit a two-run homer for the Tigers in the first inning that cleared a brick wall in right-center, bounced off a concrete concourse and out of Comerica Park. The homer was estimated at 461 feet.

“I just need to protect the lead”, he said.

Aviles had committed to swinging and lunged for the pitch, trying to foul it off. Instead it went off the end of the bat, stayed on the infield grass, rolling up toward first. He’s hit a few like that.

Sanchez (4-7) was the victor. Lind had a two-run shot in the fifth after the Tigers took the lead in the fourth.

Abreu doubled to right-center off Kimbrel (0-3) after Avisail Garcia walked and J.B. Shuck singled. “We will get Wade back pretty soon, so that helps”. “Our guys really battled”.

Kyle Seager hit a solo homer in a four-run second that included Seth Smith’s go-ahead, two-run single to put Seattle ahead 4-2.

Coming off a weekend when they were swept in three games at Cleveland and scored just six total runs, the White Sox grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second. It was his ninth homer in 82 at-bats after going deep only once in his first 92 at-bats this season. Castellanos grounded a two-out RBI single through the left side.

Walker, limited to 3 1/3 innings and five shutout innings in his last two outings, went back to Seattle after his Sunday start in Boston to have the tendon along the right arch in his right root examined.

With J.D. Martinez out for 4-6 weeks with a fractured elbow and Steven Moya a liability against left-handed pitching and in the field, Tigers manager Brad Ausmus decided Aviles was his best option. On May 30 – his 47th game of the season – he was hitting.215/.259/.309 and had struck out 71 times. “He was very impressive, and we tried to ride him as long as we could”.

Upton connected off Nick Vincent in the seventh.

“That was a insane game”, Servais said.

Detroit’s problems also extend to its bullpen, which has been ground down by having to cover for starters not being able to get into the sixth at least twice every time through the rotation.

Mariners: RHP Taijuan Walker had an MRI on his right foot that showed no structural damage. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article.

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