The Tigers got some help from a pair of newcomers last night to beatTampaBay6-to-3 to open a 10-game homestand. Andy Dirks first major league home run tied the game forDetroitat one-one in the fifth.

An inning earlier, Tiger’s starter Phil Coke had to leave the game when he sprained his ankle attempting to field a bunt. That brought in Detroit rookie lefthander Charlie Furbush, who earned the victory in his big league debut with three and two-thirds innings of scoreless relief.

The Tigers went ahead 2-to-1 in the sixth on an rbi single by Miguel Cabrera and then added four insurance runs in the eighth on a 2-run double by Victor Martinez and a 2-run single by Jhonny Peralta.

Jose Valverde was called on to protect a 5-run, ninth inning lead and it got a bit messy with the Rays scoring two runs before a line-out to Cabrera off the bat of ex-Tiger Johnny Damon with two runners on base ended the inning for the Rays.

A thundershower delayed the start of last night’s game by 27-minutes. Justin Verlander gets the start tonight for the Tigers in game two of the 3-game series with the Rays.

The White Sox were shutout 4-to-0 last night at Texas while the Cubs had the day off Monday.