Verlander loses in debut
Justin Verlander grabbed the bill of his cap two times as he faced home plate, acknowledging a warm welcome from fans in Detroit, then had to whip his head around twice toward the outfield as the Tigers sent pitches over the right-field wall.
Verlander gave up back-to-back home runs in his Mets debut and Eduardo Rodriguez threw eight scoreless innings as the Tigers completed a three-game sweep with a 2-0 win Thursday.
In the end, though, Verlander appreciated the crowd’s collective gesture at the start of his outing.
Riley Greene and Javier Baez hit solo homers off Verlander in the first inning and that was enough offense for the Tigers, who had 18,369 fans in the stands for their biggest crowd in nearly a month.
Rodriguez (3-2) gave up just two hits and one walk while striking out nine. Alex Lange pitched the ninth for his fifth save.
Verlander (0-1) settled in after his rough start, showing signs of the form that led to him winning the Cy Young award last year for the third time and helping the Astros win the World Series for a second time.
The 40-year-old righthander gave up two runs on five hits and a walk, striking out five in his 79-pitch outing. He started the season on the injured list with a muscle strain in his upper back.
Acuña banged up in win
Marcell Ozuna homered for third time in two games, Ronald Acuña Jr. stole his league-leading 15th base, and the Braves beat the Marlins, 6-3, at Miami to complete a three-game sweep.
Acuña went down in the sixth after fouling a ball off his left knee. He remained on the ground and grabbed at his leg for several minutes, but finished the at-bat and returned to right field in the bottom of the frame. He was eventually removed out of precaution.
Matt Olson also homered for the Braves, winners of five of their last six. They have hit 19 home runs in seven games against Miami this season, including six in a 14-6 win Wednesday night.
Rays remain hot
Zach Eflin pitched seven scoreless innings, Randy Arozarena hit one of three Tampa homers and the host Rays beat the Pirates, 3-2, to finish a three-game sweep of smallbudget teams off to outstanding starts.
Taylor Walls and Yandy Díaz also homered for Tampa Bay, and Eflin (4-0) scattered three hits and struck out 10. The righthander allowed just one baserunner to reach scoring position, when Carlos Santana hit a two-out double in the seventh.
The Rays have scored a major league-best 210 runs and allowed an MLB-fewest 96. Tampa Bay also tops the big leagues with 67 homers, while allowing the fewest with 20.
Tampa Bay, at 26-6, is off to the best start through 32 games since the 1984 World Series champion Detroit Tigers went 27-5.
The NL Central-leading Pirates (20-12) have lost a season-high four straight.
Rockies win 4th straight
Charlie Blackmon had two hits and two RBIs, and the Rockies used a five-run eighth inning to earn a 9-6 come-from-behind victory against the Brewers at Denver.
The Rockies extended their season-best win streak to four games and won for the sixth time in their past nine games after starting the season 6-17.
Trammell homers again
Taylor Trammell homered for the second time in five days since coming off the injured list and drove in three runs as the Mariners beat the host Athletics, 5-3, to extend their winning streak to four games and complete a series sweep.