Tigers 6, Rays 3
Miguel Cabrera singled in the go-ahead run and Andy Dirks hit his first career home run as the Detroit Tigers topped the visiting Tampa Bay Rays, 6-3, on Monday.
Brennan Boesch doubled and scored and Charlie Furbush pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings to earn the win in his major-league debut for the Tigers, who have won two straight since snapping a five-game skid.
Phil Coke started for Detroit but had to be removed after 3 1/3 innings after he injured his right ankle fielding a bunt. The 25-year old Furbush (1-0), who had been called up from Class AAA Toledo on Saturday, entered and walked the first batter he faced to load the bases before striking out the next two to escape the jam.
The lefthander ended up allowing two hits and striking out three.
Dirks knotted it at 1-1 in the fifth when he drove a 2-2 pitch from Jeremy Hellickson (5-3) out to right for a solo homer. Cabrera put the Tigers on top in the next frame, following Boesch’s double with an RBI single to right.
Detroit broke it open in the eighth, pushing four runs across on a two-run double by Victor Martinez and Jhonny Peralta’s two-run single.