Tillman, O's hand Tigers 1st loss
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Detroit, MI (SportsNetwork.com) - Chris Tillman outdueled Tigers' ace Justin Verlander as the Baltimore Orioles handed Detroit its first loss with 3-1 victory at Comerica Park.
Adam Jones hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the eighth inning, and Matt Wieters provided insurance with a ninth-inning home run off Detroit reliever Al Alburquerque.
"Our offense came up big late in the game," Tillman said.
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Tillman (1-0) retired the first 10 batters he faced before Torii Hunter homered to left field with one out in the fourth. The Baltimore right-hander allowed only three more hits through eight innings and returned to the mound in the ninth eyeing his second career complete game.
However, a one-out double ripped down the first-base line by Victor Martinez ended his outing. Tommy Hunter took over and retired the next two batters to earn his second save.
Verlander (0-1) gave up two runs on five hits, walked two and struck out three over eight innings.
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"(Tillman) pitched extremely well and we weren't able to score much," Verlander said.
The Tigers last started 5-0 in 2006.
Baltimore tied the game in the game sixth with a pair of doubles. Jones drove a Verlander pitch to deep center field and scored when Nelson Cruz found the gap in right-center with two outs.
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The O's grabbed the lead two innings later. Nick Markakis reached third on a ball hit into the right-field corner and Jones followed with a sac fly to left.
Game Notes
The Tigers have hit a home run in the first five games of a season for the first time since 2009 ... Verlander passed Tommy Bridges for fourth place on the club's all-time strikeouts list. He entered Sunday with 1,673 career strikeouts, one behind Bridges ... The O's had allowed at least nine hits in each of their first five games.