Eduardo Rodriguez tossed eight scoreless innings in his longest outing since 2017 and the streaking Detroit Tigers completed a doubleheader sweep with a 1-0 victory over the visiting Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday.
Rodriguez (1-2) allowed just four hits and didn’t walk a batter while striking out 10. The last time he pitched eight innings was May 21, 2017 against Oakland as a member of the Boston Red Sox. Jason Foley got the last three outs to notch his first career save as Detroit extended its winning streak to five games.
Riley Greene supplied the lone run of the contest with a sixth-inning homer. Greene finished the day with four hits, three in Game 1.
The Tigers won the opener 4-3 on Kerry Carpenter’s two-out, solo homer in the bottom of the ninth.
Making his second major league start, Cleveland’s Peyton Battenfield (0-1) held Detroit to three hits in six innings while recording five strikeouts.
Neither side had a baserunner get beyond first base until the bottom of the fourth. Javy Baez blooped a one-out single to center and Tyler Nevin drew a two-out walk. Battenfield got out of the jam by inducing Spencer Torkelson to bounce into a fielder’s choice.
Rodriguez struck out two batters in the first and fourth innings.
Greene broke the deadlock when he smacked his opposite-field blast to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning. It was Greene’s second homer of the season.
Detroit had another threat in the seventh. Torkelson led off with a single and moved to second on Jonathan Schoop’s one-out single. Reliever Xzavion Curry prevented the Tigers from adding to their lead by striking out Jake Rogers before Nick Maton lined out to left field.
Oscar Gonzalez led off the top of the eighth with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice. Rodriguez fanned Gabriel Arias for the second out. Second baseman Schoop then made a diving stop and threw out pinch-hitter Steven Kwan to preserve the lead.
The American League Central Division teams will complete the three-game series on Wednesday afternoon.
–Field Level Media
