The Detroit Tigers (1-0) began their defense of a fifth-straight AL Central Crown with an 4-0 opening day win against the Minnesota Twins (0-1) on Monday afternoon at Comerica Park.
David Price (1-0, 0.00 ERA) was the first opening day starter not named Justin Verlander for the Tigers in seven seasons, and the lefty didn’t disappoint. Price went 8.2 strong innings, while surrendering just five Minnesota hits.
He was also helped defensively by his teammates, especially Yoenis Cespedes. The Tigers’ new left fielder made quite the impression during his debut for Detroit. Cespedes robbed Twins’ catcher Kurt Suzuki in the third inning by elevating above the left field wall to swipe a would-be home run, maintaining a scoreless outing for Price.
Offensively, the Tigers were led by aggressive base running and peppy bats. Alex Avila and JD Martinez each hit opposite field home runs in the second inning to give the Tigers an insurmountable three-run lead in the early stages. Avila, Cespedes, Ian Kinsler, and Jose Iglesias all had mulit-hit games, with Cespedes bashing a double and a triple during the victory.
Joe Nathan registered his first save of the year by striking out the final Twins batter, the former Tiger, Torii Hunter.
The two clubs will resume the three game series on Wednesday, April 8th, with coverage beginning at 12:40 pm on AM 590 WKZO.
