Padres 5, Tigers 1
Jedd Gyorko and Xavier Nady each homered and Tyson Ross struck out seven over seven strong innings as host San Diego won the rubber match of the three-game series.
Ross (1-2) bounced back from a shaky outing last Tuesday against Cleveland by allowing one run on six hits and one walk, and former Tiger Joaquin Benoit and Huston Street each worked a scoreless inning. Will Venable drove in two runs for the Padres, who scored five runs on five hits and have won three of four following a 2-6 start.
San Diego grabbed an early lead on Gyorko’s leadoff homer in the second off Max Scherzer (0-1), who yielded four runs on four hits and three walks while striking out 10 over five innings. Scherzer threw 104 pitches and remained winless through his first three starts after going 13-0 in his first 17 starts last season.
The Tigers, who went 2-3 on their West Coast road trip, tied the game in the fourth on Victor Martinez’s RBI single before Scherzer began the fifth by walking Chase Headley and Yonder Alonso. Venable followed with a two-run double and scored when Ross recorded his first career RBI with a one-out single to left field.
Nady added an insurance run when he pinch-hit for Ross to begin the seventh and greeted Ian Krol with a blast over the center-field wall. The Tigers were held to six hits, with cleanup hitter Miguel Cabrera going 0-for-4 and finishing the series with one hit in 12 at-bats.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Venable’s two-run double snapped an 0-for-15 slump and ended a streak of 21 games without an RBI. … Detroit LF Rajai Davis, who had two hits and extended his hitting streak to seven games, robbed Seth Smith of extra bases in the third inning with a diving catch at the warning track. … The Tigers begin a stretch of 28 games in 30 days on Tuesday when they open a three-game series at home against Cleveland.