Gardenhire gets first victory as manager of Tigers

DETROIT — Ron Gardenhire's first win with the Detroit Tigers came courtesy of a couple other grizzled veterans.

Francisco Liriano pitched into the seventh inning in his Detroit debut and Victor Martinez drove in three runs to give the Tigers a 6-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals on a chilly Monday.

Gardenhire won 1,068 games as Minnesota's manager from 2002-14. This is his first year at the helm in Detroit.

"I know what this city's all about, I know what this team's all about, so I'm very proud to be a part of it," Gardenhire said. "Now I'm in their history books. I got one win."

The temperature was in the mid-30s at Comerica Park for a matchup between the last two winless teams in the American League. Some fans came dressed in Michigan winter gear — the Wolverines played Villanova hours later in the NCAA men's basketball championship game.

Liriano (1-0) allowed a run and four hits in 6 2/3 innings. The 34-year-old lefty, signed as a free agent in February, struck out three and walked two while throwing 94 pitches.

The Tigers scored four runs in the fifth, with Martinez delivering a two-run single off Jason Hammel (0-1).

"The third time through the order, they started finding holes," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "We had them played right and he was making decent pitches, but it didn't work out."

Kansas City took a 1-0 lead in the third on a sacrifice fly by Drew Butera, but Detroit tied it in the bottom half on an RBI single by Miguel Cabrera.

The Tigers broke open the game in the fifth. With one out, Leonys Martin singled and Jeimer Candelario doubled. After an intentional walk to Cabrera loaded the bases, Nicholas Castellanos hit a soft line drive to left for a run-scoring single.

Then Martinez added his two-run single , and James McCann's grounder brought Castellanos home and made it 5-1.

Martinez added a sacrifice fly in the seventh. HOUSTON — Charlie Morton pitched six scoreless innings, Marwin Gonzalez homered and the Houston Astros beat the Baltimore Orioles in their home opener after winning their first World Series title last year.

Morton (1-0) allowed three hits and struck out six. The right-hander picked up where he left off after getting the final 12 outs in Game 7 against the Dodgers on a night when the Astros unveiled their championship banner.

Brad Peacock pitched a perfect seventh and Will Harris allowed one hit in the eighth before Collin McHugh took over. The starterturned-reliever allowed a homer to Trey Mancini and a double to Colby Rasmus before retiring the last three batters.

TORONTO — Russell Martin hit a goahead, two-run homer in the seventh inning, Josh Donaldson and Aledmys Diaz each had a solo shot and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Chicago White Sox for their third straight win.

All six runs in the game came on homers. Welington Castillo went deep twice for the White Sox, his sixth career multihomer game and third straight against Toronto. Castillo hit five home runs against the Blue Jays in 2017, his highest total against any opponent.

Martin erased a 2-1 deficit with a two-out drive into the left-field bullpen off Danny Farquhar (1-1). The homer was Martin's first of the season.

Seung Hwan Oh (1-0) got the win despite allowing Castillo's second homer, a tiebreaking shot in the top of the seventh, during his only inning of work.

Ryan Tepera pitched the eighth and Roberto Osuna finished for his second save.

Castillo also connected off left-hander Jaime Garcia in the fourth.

Making his first start for the Blue Jays, Garcia allowed one run and four hits in six innings. He walked two and struck out seven.

Donaldson went deep for the first time this season with an opposite-field drive off Reynaldo Lopez in the sixth.

Donaldson faced the White Sox dugout and pretended to blow a whistle after he crossed home plate. The gesture was directed at Chicago first base coach Daryl Boston, who blows a whistle to acknowledge great defen-

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