Robbie Grossman drove in three runs with a pair of two-out doubles, Tarik Skubal pitched six strong innings and the Detroit Tigers opened the second half of the season with a 7-2 victory over the host Oakland Athletics in the opener of a doubleheader Thursday afternoon.
The Tigers’ Garrett Hill and A’s Frankie Montas were the scheduled starters in Game 2.
After neither team got a hit in the first two innings, Jeimer Candelario led off the Detroit third with a single against Oakland starter Zach Logue (3-5).
Two outs later, Javier Baez singled and Grossman, a former two-year member of the A’s, plated both baserunners with a double to left field.
Grossman’s second double and third RBI came in the fifth after a two-out error by A’s second baseman Sheldon Neuse kept the inning alive. This two-bagger to center field drove in Riley Greene, who had singled with two outs.
Candelario homered, his seventh of the season, leading off the seventh and Jonathan Schoop added a run-scoring double in the eighth before the Tigers busted the game open with a two-run ninth. Greene had an RBI single and Schoop a sacrifice fly to complete the scoring.
Logue was pulled after six innings, charged with three runs (two earned) on five hits. He walked one and struck out four.
The A’s only run against Skubal (7-8) was the product of a Seth Brown double, a passed ball and a Stephen Piscotty sacrifice fly in the fifth.
The left-hander recorded his 10th straight decision (four wins, six losses) by limiting Oakland to two hits and two walks in his six innings. He struck out nine.
Brown smacked his 11th homer of the season, a solo shot, in the seventh to complete the A’s scoring.
Baez had three hits and scored twice, Candelario two hits and two runs, Greene delivered two hits and Schoop two RBIs for the Tigers, who had entered the All-Star break on a four-game losing streak.
Brown finished with two hits and scored both runs for the A’s, who were out-hit 10-5.
–Field Level Media
