Cabrera, Martinez homer in Tigers' win over Mariners

Published February 05, 2015

Seattle, WA (SportsNetwork.com) - Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez each homered to back a strong outing from Justin Verlander, and the Detroit Tigers defeated the Seattle Mariners, 6-3, in the opener of a three-game set.

Verlander (6-4), who allowed five-plus runs over his last three starts entering Friday, was charged with three runs on five hits with seven strikeouts over 7 2/3 innings.

Rajai Davis also homered for Detroit, which has won three of its last four.

Seattle starter Hisashi Iwakuma (3-2) was roughed up for five runs on eight hits with five strikeouts. Kyle Seager went 2-for-4 with a homer and knocked in two runs for the Mariners, who have dropped five of their last seven.

"I thought (Iwakuma's) stuff was just okay," Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon said. "He elevated a lot of pitches tonight that he normally doesn't elevate."

With two outs in the third, Torii Hunter singled to center, then Cabrera launched his ninth homer of the season to left-center that gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead.

Seager got both runs back in the home half of the fourth with a two-run blast to right that plated Justin Smoak.

"I made one bad pitch," Verlander said of the Seager home run.

Iwakuma intentionally walked Cabrera to put runners on first and second with two outs in the fifth. Martinez stepped in and worked a 10-pitch at-bat, ending it with his 13th homer of the season, which helped the visitors to a 5-2 edge.

Davis clubbed a no-doubter to left on the first pitch he saw from Charlie Furbush to open the seventh inning and stretch the lead to four.

James Jones' single with two outs in the eighth chased Verlander after a season-high 120 pitches.

Michael Saunders then doubled to cut the deficit to 6-3 after eight.

Joba Chamberlain came on in the ninth and shut down the M's for his second save of the season.

Game Notes

Seattle second baseman Robinson Cano missed his second straight game with an illness ... The Mariners were 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position ... Drew Smyly of Detroit will oppose Chris Young on Saturday in the middle game of the set.

URL

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/cabrera-martinez-homer-in-tigers-win-over-mariners