Tigers 5, Mariners 4
DETROIT -- Ian Kinsler blasted two home runs, including a go-ahead two-run shot in the eighth inning, leading the Detroit Tigers to a 5-4 win over the Seattle Mariners on Monday night at Comerica Park.
Kinsler's two-out game-winner over the left field wall was the first home run allowed by Seattle reliever Mark Lowe (0-1) this season. The Tigers second baseman also hit a solo shot in the first inning. It was Kinsler's 13th career multi-homer game but his first since Sept. 7, 2011, while playing for the Texas Rangers.
Catcher James McCann supplied two hits and drove in two runs for the Tigers (46-46). Al Alburquerque (1-0) pitched an inning of scoreless relief to get the win, and Joakim Soria collected his 21st save.
Detroit starting pitcher Alfredo Simon gave up four runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings.
Seattle catcher Mike Zunino hit a two-run double and an RBI single. Second baseman Robinson Cano added a solo home run for the Mariners (42-51). Starting pitcher J.A. Happ allowed three runs on four hits in seven innings.
Zunino's two-out single in the sixth put the Mariners on top 4-3 and knocked Simon out of the game. Kinsler erased the deficit two innings later after shortstop Jose Iglesias hit a one-out double off Lowe and advanced on a groundout.
Kinsler hit his fourth homer on a first-pitch swing in the bottom of the first. He was ejected Sunday for pounding his bat into the ground after flying out.
Zunino, batting .158 entering the game, gave the Mariners a 2-1 lead in the second with a bases-loaded double to deep center. That snapped a 1-for-21 stretch for the Seattle catcher and equaled his RBI output for the month.
McCann got those runs back in the bottom of the inning with a two-run double down the left field line.
Cano's opposite-field, solo blast tied it at 3-all with two outs in the fifth. He has three home runs since the All-Star break.
NOTES: Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon tweaked his lineup, moving 2B Robinson Cano to the cleanup spot and putting RF Nelson Cruz in the No. 3 position. "Maybe it will jump-start us," McClendon said. ... Tigers 3B Nick Castellanos was in the lineup despite getting hit in the face by a hard one-hopper on Sunday. He had a shiner under his left eye. "It looks worse than it is," manager Brad Ausmus said. ... Ausmus plans to keep SS Jose Iglesias at or near the bottom of the order even though the All-Star is batting .321. Iglesias had four hits against Baltimore on Sunday. "You hate to mess with guys when they're doing well," Ausmus said. "You just don't know how they'll respond." ... Seattle CF Austin Jackson, a former Tiger, went 2-for-4. He entered the night hitting .292 in 336 games at Comerica Park.