DETROIT (AP) — Miguel Cabrera's walk-off single in the 11th inning was the last push for the Detroit Tigers, who rallied from a five-run deficit to beat the San Francisco Giants 7-6 on Saturday.
“It feels great,” Cabrera said after the team's second 11th-inning win in less than 18 hours. “We got the win in the series and now we can go for the sweep tomorrow.”
Taylor Rogers (0-2) started the 11th with a wild pitch, which moved Spencer Torkelson to third. Cabrera batted for Akil Baddoo and hit a 2-2 sinker up the middle for his 3,095th career hit and the winning run.
Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said he had been saving Cabrera and fellow righty Tyler Nevin for a lefthanded reliever.
“We were going to go after Rogers with righties — Nevin was already on deck — but once we got the runner to third with the wild pitch, we were all confident that Miggy was going to get it done," Hinch said.
Giants manager Gabe Kapler couldn't blame Rogers.
“He got a ground ball, which is tough to do against any pinch hitter, much less a guy who is one of the best hitters of all time,” Kapler said.
Chasen Shreve (1-1) got the win, with five Detroit relievers combining to pitch seven shutout innings. The Tigers have won three straight after a 2-9 start.
The Tigers trailed 6-1 after three innings and were still down 6-3 in the eighth, but Nick Maton singled off John Brebbia and Riley Greene walked. Javier Báez fouled off six two-strike pitches before hitting a two-run double to make it 6-5 and brought Sean Hjelle out of the Giants bullpen.
“I know (Brebbia) because I've faced him before,” said Baez, who went 1-2 with a homer in their last meeting in 2019. “He was throwing some good pitches and I was just making contact.”
Kerry Carpenter’s deep fly to right moved Baez to third, and Torkelson’s flare over the drawn-in infield tied the game.
“We have an experienced, quality group of relievers, but they are a little taxed right now and not performing at their best,” Kapler said.
The Giants' J.D. Davis has six RBIs in the first two games of the weekend series despite playing with a painful knee abrasion.
Starter Anthony DeScalfani allowed three runs, two of them earned, on six hits in 6 2/3 innings. He struck out five and didn't walk a batter.
Michael Lorenzen made his first start as a Tiger after a spring hamstring injury, and allowed six runs on eight hits in four innings.
The Giants took a 6-1 lead with two runs in each of the first three innings. Davis had an RBI single in the first and Matt Beaty followed with a run-scoring groundout. Blake Sabol made it 4-0 with a two-run homer in the second before Detroit's Kerry Carpenter hit a solo home run in the bottom of the second.
Mike Yastrzemski led off the third inning with a single and scored on Davis' second homer in two days.
DeScalfani should have been out of the sixth with a 6-2 lead, but back-to-back errors by Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford allowed the Tigers to get a third run.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Giants: Placed OF Joc Pederson (wrist) on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to April 12, and recalled IF/OF Matt Beaty from Triple-A Sacramento. ... Michael Conforto (calf) didn't start but entered the game in the 10th inning as a pinch-hitter.
Tigers: Refreshed their bullpen after Friday's 11-inning game. RHP Garrett Hill and INF Ryan Kreidler were optioned to Triple-A Toledo in favor of LHP Tyler Holton and Lorenzen.
BIG FINISH
Hinch was encouraged by Lorenzen finishing his start with a scoreless fourth inning.
“This isn't a spring-training game, so we have to give ourselves a chance to win, but we knew Michael needed some work,” he said. “He threw the ball really well in that last inning and that's something he can build on.”
RARE SIGHT
Crawford hadn’t made errors on consecutive hitters since he had back-to-back throwing errors twice during the 2014 season. Saturday's errors were both misplayed grounders.
UP NEXT
The teams finish their weekend series on Sunday, with Detroit's Matthew Boyd (0-1, 4.00) facing Logan Webb (0-3, 6.35).
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