DETROIT -- Derek Hill hit a walk-off double in the bottom of the 11th inning to break a scoreless stalemate and give the Detroit Tigers a 1-0 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night at Comerica Park.
The Tigers (69-76) have now won back-to-back extra inning games against first-place teams. They did so on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Rays, who lead the American League East, and on Tuesday against the Brewers (89-56), who maintain a healthy lead in the National League Central.
After several arduous late innings, the bottom of the 11th was brief: Victor Reyes was placed on second to start the inning and Derek Hill ripped a ball to right-center off Brewers reliever Hunter Strickland to score him easily. To add a flourish, Hill raced to second base and slid in just ahead of Reyes.
It was the Tigers’ first 1-0 win in extra winnings since Sept. 27, 1986, against the Yankees in New York.
Earlier in the evening, the battle of Peraltas ended in a draw.
Tigers starter Wily Peralta and Brewers starter Freddy Peralta (no relation) each pitched six scoreless innings before heavy rains started drenching Comerica Park.
When the game resumed after a delay of one hour and 49 minutes, both Peraltas were out, and both teams continued to struggle to hit.
The Tigers were poised to win it after Brewers closer Josh Hader walked the bases loaded in the ninth, but he came back to strike out Jeimer Candelario and Eric Haase to send the game into extras.
After Tigers reliever Gregory Soto pitched a second consecutive scoreless inning in the top of the 10th, the Tigers failed to win it in the bottom of the inning. Niko Goodrum tried and failed to sacrifice the runner from second to third, and then two infield groundouts ended the frame.
The Brewers loaded the bases against reliever Bryan Garcia in the top of the 11th, but Christian Yelich bounced into an inning-ending double play.
After the rain delay, Derek Holland, Kyle Funkhouser, Soto and Garcia combined to pitch five scoreless innings.
“We had a lot of guys do a lot of good things,” Hinch said. “It didn’t always feel like it in a 0-0 game. There wasn’t a lot of action, but there was a lot of big-time pitching.”
Up next: The Tigers and Brewers wrap up their brief two-game series on Wednesday at 1:10 p.m. Tigers rookie right-hander Matt Manning (3-6, 6.14 ERA) will face Brewers right-hander Brandon Woodruff (9-8, 2.48).
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