BY DANA GAURUDERUpdated 4:00 PM EDT, April 5, 2024Share
DETROIT (AP) — Gio Urshela’s two-out double in the eighth inning brought in the go-ahead run and the Detroit Tigers defeated the Okaland Athletics 5-4 in their homer opener on Friday.
Matt Vierling and Mark Canha hit solo homers for Detroit. Spencer Torkelson doubled twice, scored two runs and drove in another for the Tigers, who are off to a 6-1 start.
Detroit starter Tarik Skubal gave up four runs and struck out nine in 6 1/3 innings. Jason Foley (2-0) got the win with a scoreless inning of relief and Alex Lange got the last out to record his first save.
Brent Rooker and Abraham Toro homered for the A’s, who have lost seven of eight to open their final season in Oakland.
After Oakland tied the game at 4-all with two runs in the seventh, Urshela delivered his decisive double off Lucas Erceg (0-1) to bring in Torkelson, who led off with a double.
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Detroit took the lead against Oakland starter JP Sears with a three-run fourth. Vierling led off with his first homer of the season. Torkelson’s RBI double brought in Andy Ibanez and Torkelson scored on a Riley Greene’s single.
Skubal only allowed two baserunners in the first five innings. Oakland then pulled within 3-2 in the sixth on Rooker’s two-out, two-run blast.
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Canha gave Detroit some breathing room in the bottom of the sixth with his 414-foot blast over the left field wall.
The A’s tied it at 4-all in the seventh on Toro’s homer and Nick Allen’s RBI grounder.
The sellout crowd of 44,711 was nearly as much as Oakland drew for its seven-game homestand (45,086).
The Athletics announced on Thursday they will be playing at least the next three seasons in Sacramento, California before moving to a new stadium in Las Vegas. The franchise has played in Oakland since 1968.
UP NEXT
Athletics: RHP Paul Blackburn (0-0, 0.00 ERA) will start Saturday’s game. Blackburn pitched seven scoreless innings against Cleveland in his season debut on Sunday.
Tigers: RHP Kenta Maeda (0-0, 16.20 ERA) will start for the Tigers on Saturday. In his Detroit debut, he allowed three home runs to the Chicago White Sox on Saturday.
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