BALTIMORE — The Baltimore Orioles roughed up the Detroit Tigers early and then late to take Game 1 of the best-of-five American League Division Series 12-3.
Nelson Cruz started the scoring with a two-run home run off of Tigers’ starter Max Scherzer in the first inning. After Victor Martinez and J.D. Martinez hit back-to-back home runs to tie the game up at two, Nick Markakis knocked in a run with a bloop single in the bottom of the second to give the Orioles a 3-2 lead. That would be it for the scoring until JJ Hardy hit a solo home run in the seventh to give Baltimore a 4-2 lead.
In the top of the eighth, the Tigers appeared to be ready for a break-out inning, but Torii Hunter lined out into short while Ian Kinsler was trying to steal second leading to a double-play. To make matters even more frustrating for the Tigers, Miguel Cabrera hit a solo home run in the next at-bat to make it a 4-3 game.
Instead it was the Baltimore Orioles who enjoyed the breakout inning in the eighth, scoring eight runs off of four different Tigers pitchers, including starter Max Scherzer.
The Tigers and Orioles will play Game 2 of the series tomorrow. Justin Verlander will start for the Tigers while Baltimore will counter with Wei-Yin Chen. First pitch is scheduled for 12:07 p.m. ET on TBS.
