The Detroit Tigers scored five times in the eighth inning to rally for a 5-3 win against the host Cincinnati Reds on Saturday.
The Tigers have won consecutive games for the first time since winning three straight from June 2-4.
Reliever Shelby Miller (5-6) tossed scoreless two innings with three strikeouts to earn the win. Andrew Chafin picked up his first save of the season, fanning the only batter he faced in the ninth for the final out.
Reds starter Hunter Greene allowed three hits and struck out seven with two walks across seven scoreless innings, his longest outing since a seven-inning start on May 14. Cincinnati has lost two in a row after a three-game winning streak.
Detroit barely threatened for much of the game until the eighth inning, when Fernando Cruz (3-6) took over for Greene. The Tigers sent 10 batters to the plate.
After Parker Meadows hit a one-out double to right field, pinch hitter Wenceel Perez delivered a blast to right-center to tie it 2-2. It was his fifth homer of the season. Matt Vierling followed with a walk, ending Cruz’s day.
Sam Moll didn’t fare much better. Andy Ibanez, pinch-hitting for Colt Keith, walked, and then Mark Canha’s double scored Vierling and gave the Tigers a 3-2 lead. Ibanez came across when Riley Greene grounded into a fielder’s choice, and Zach McKinstry, pinch-running for Canha, scored on Carson Kelly’s double to make it 5-2.
Spencer Steer homered for a third straight game, a solo shot leading off the the ninth, to pull Cincinnati within two.
The Reds opened the scoring in the fifth. Steer and Nick Martini each walked to open the inning. Tyler Stephenson then sent a sharp line drive into the left-center field gap to drive them both in for a 2-0 lead.
Both sides struggled to get much going early on. Detroit managed just two hits and two walks through the first five innings. Cincinnati had one hit through the first four.
Right-hander Alex Faedo, a reliever making the start in a bullpen game for the Tigers, gave up one hit and struck out two in two innings.
–Field Level Media