DETROIT (AP) — Tigers starter Michael Pineda exited early after a line drive broke a finger on his pitching hand and the Detroit bullpen dominated the rest of the way, teaming on a four-hitter to beat the Baltimore Orioles 3-0 Saturday.
Pineda retired all four hitters he faced, but had to leave after Ramon Urias’ liner broke the middle finger on his right hand in the second inning.
“We don’t know yet if he will need surgery, but he’s going to be out for a while,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “We didn’t have everyone available in the bullpen today, but everyone got in line and did what we needed them to do.”
Wily Peralta replaced him, with the game delayed to give him time to warm up.
“I’ve never had to warm up on the mound in my career, and I didn’t really get a chance to figure out what was working,” he said. “I had a couple good fastballs at the end, so I started out throwing those and worked from there.”
Peralta (1-0) set down eight batters and four more relievers finished. Gregory Soto pitched the ninth for his fifth save.
Eric Haase and Willi Castro homered for the Tigers, who clinched their first series win at home this season. The Detroit defense also contributed, turning four double plays.
“It’s nice to hit some balls out, because that’s something we haven’t done much early on,” Hinch said. “I think one difference is that it has been 80 (degrees) the last couple days, not 30 like it was in April.”
Bruce Zimmermann (2-2) allowed two earned runs in six-plus innings.
“Bruce threw the ball extremely well – we just didn’t score,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “We struggled against what ended up being a bullpen game. Our starters are doing an amazing job, but we’ve got to score some more runs.”
The Tigers…