The Detroit Tigers take down the Oakland A’s on Opening Day

DETROIT, Mich. (WILX) – One of the great days in Major League Baseball is Opening Day, which was on Friday afternoon for the Detroit Tigers. The 5-1 Tigers were taking on the 1-6 Oakland A’s for the Comerica Park home opener. The Detroit Lions’ Pro Bowl OL Penei Sewell threw out the first pitch too before the game.

Detroit starting pitcher Tarik Skubal started out strong on the bump, throwing four scoreless innings. JP Sears was throwing a no-hitter into the bottom of the fourth until OF Matt Vierling hit a solo shot to left field to make it 1-0 Tigers.

It was Spencer Torkelson adding on a couple batters later, driving in Andy Ibanez from second on a double down the left side to make it 2-0 Tigers. Riley Greene quickly added on with a poke through to the opposite field for an RBI single to bring in Torkelson from second. Suddenly, it was 3-0 Tigers in the bottom of the fourth, and the Sears hadn’t gotten an out.

Oakland got out of the inning, and it remained 3-0 until the top of the 6th, when Oakland’s Brent Rooker hit a two-run home run to left off Skubal to make it 3-2, with the Tigers still leading.

Bottom of the 6th, Detroit’s Mark Canha absolutely blasts one to left field for a solo shot to tack on a run to extend Detroit’s lead to 4-2. Next batter Gio Urshela doubles to the left centerfield gap to knock Sears out of the ballgame.

Top of the 7th and Skubal was still on the mound. Abraham Toro got into one and sent it out for a solo shot to cut Detroit’s lead to 4-3. Then J.J. Bleday walked, and Skubal got taken out. Will Vest got brought in, and a Nick Allen groundout drove in Bleday to tie the game at four apiece.

Two runners were on out in the bottom of the 7th for the Tigers, and T.J. McFarland got Kerry Carpenter to roll into a double play to retire the side. That sent the game tied at four to the eighth inning.

Lucas Erceg came into the 8th for Oakland with the game still tied and Spencer Torkelson doubled to start off the inning. Gio Urshela then doubled down the right field line to drive in Torkelson to give Detroit back a 5-4 lead heading to the 9th inning.

Andrew Chafin came in to close out the game with a one-run lead. After letting two runners on, Chafin got two outs and got pulled. Alex Lange came in to get the final out and got the job done for a one out save. The Tigers pull out the victory and win on Opening Day 5–4.

Detroit is back in action tomorrow at 1:10 p.m. for game two of the series.