DETROIT -- Miguel Cabrera doubled and homered and Eduardo Rodriguez pitched almost seven shutout innings as the Detroit Tigers beat the Baltimore Orioles 4-2 Friday night at Comerica Park.
The Tigers (10-23), who entered the game having lost 16 of their last 19, have two more this weekend against the Orioles (14-19), who had the worst record in baseball in 2021.
For the second consecutive night, Cabrera drilled a ball to the right-field gap. His two-out double in the third inning scored Javier Baez to give the Tigers the lead.
Cabrera went to the pull-side in the sixth inning, crushing a solo home run to left-center. His 504th homer tied him with Eddie Murray for 27th all-time.
“I haven’t given days off because his presence matters to us,” said Tigers manager A.J. Hinch.
Rodriguez earned his first win as a Tiger in his seventh start this season. He pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings, evading serious trouble in the first and second innings before settling in for a clean start.
He walked the final two batters in the seventh, but reliever Chafin struck out Jorge Mateo to escape the jam.
But things haven’t been easy for the Tigers this year, and Friday the 13th wasn’t going to be easy, either.
Reliever Jacob Barnes, who entered the game having allowed just one run in 12 innings, served up two solo homers in a three-pitch span to start the eighth. After Troy Mancini and Anthony Santander went long, Barnes issued a walk to his third and final batter. The Orioles then loaded the bases on an error and walk, but Alex Lange got Cedric Mullins to pop out to end the inning.
In the ninth, Tigers closer Gregory Soto hit the first two batters he faced, then issued a one-out walk to load the bases. Tigers manager A.J. Hinch turned to Will Vest, handing him his first ever save opportunity in a high-stress situation.
“I didn’t try to change anything from what I’ve been doing, which is just trying to get strike one, put them on the defensive, and get to two strikes as quickly as possible,” Vest said. “Once you do that, they’re kind of in a hole.”
Vest got back-to-back strikeouts, feeding pinch-hitter Ramon Urias and rookie then Rylan Bannon a steady diet of sliders.
“I’m not going to criticize how we win when we have as few wins as we (do),” Hinch said. “Will Vest has pitched as good as anybody as we have in the pen...It’s just nice to finish the night with a win regardless of how we got there.”
It looked every so briefly like the Tigers might have tacked on an insurance run in the seventh inning when Javier Baez sent a towering fly ball down the left field line. Baez stood in the box, convinced it was foul, but when umpire Mark Wegner signaled a home run he was obliged to trot around the bases.
Replays showed the ball was well foul. Baez returned to the plate and struck out to end the inning.
Up next
The Tigers and Orioles meet again on Saturday at 4:10 p.m. Tigers right-hander Michael Pineda (1-2, 3.43 ERA) will face Baltimore lefty Bruce Zimmermann (2-1, 2.67).
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