DETROIT — Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter homered in a three-run sixth inning and the Detroit Tigers extended their winning streak to five games with a 6-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday night.
The Angels, last place in the AL West at 54-78, have lost six straight and 12 of their last 14 games.
The start of the game was delayed 2 hours, 45 minutes by heavy storms and the first pitch wasn't thrown until 9:45 p.m. But the Tigers didn't have any trouble with the late start.
“This was late, but we wanted to get it in so we didn't have to play two tomorrow," Greene said. “I have a lot of caffeine in the body right now.”
Brant Hurter (2-1) picked up his second MLB win in his first start, allowing two runs on four hits in five innings. Jason Foley got the final out for his 18th save.
Johnny Cueto (0-2) took the loss in his second start of the season. The 38-year-old right-hander allowed six runs on six hits — including three homers — in five-plus innings.
The Angels took a 1-0 lead in the first. Taylor Ward opened the game with a double, took third on a fly ball and scored on Nolan Schanuel's infield single.
Cueto retired the first nine hitters before Parker Meadows hit a deep fly to left-center field that dropped between Ward and Kevin Pillar for a triple. Matt Vierling doubled with one out, tying the score, and took third on Jo Adell's error.
“The triple didn't even get to the warning track — that's just a miscommunication on our part,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “You have to make those plays, especially when you have the lead."
Kerry Carpenter took advantage of another defensive mistake as his bouncer went past Zach Neto for an RBI single, making it 2-1 Tigers.
Adell tripled in the fifth and scored the tying run on Ward's sacrifice fly. But, Jake Rogers homered to center in the bottom of the inning.
“(Cueto) is a great pitcher and he got us early, but we knew we would get something to hit,” Rogers said.
Greene made it 4-2 with a long homer, his 19th, to center in the sixth, and Carpenter added his 13th homer of the season, a two-run shot, later in the inning.
“I thought Johnny did a pretty good job of controlling them into the fifth, but it got away from him a little,” Washington said. “But Rogers hit a bomb, he left a sinker up to Greene and then Carpenter got him.”
Playoff hunt
Detroit (67-66) is above .500 for the first time since June 4. The Tigers have won 5 straight games, and 12 of their last 15. Their record since July 1 (29-20) is 2nd-best in the MLB, behind only the Kansas City Royals.
The Tigers are 5 1/2 games behind the Minnesota Twins for the final wildcard spot.
TRAINER'S ROOM
The Angels placed LHP Matt Moore on the 15-day injured list with a left forearm strain and selected the contract of RHP Ryan Miller from Triple-A Salt Lake City. To make room for Miller on the 40-man roster, the Angels moved OF Mike Trout to the 60-day injured list.
UP NEXT
The teams play the second game of the series on Wednesday. The Angels will start RHP Griffin Canning (4-11, 5.18 ERA) in the second game of the series on Wednesday. Detroit will use an opener.
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