The Detroit Tigers sent 11 batters to the plate in the first inning.
They scored six runs.
The Tigers smoked the Seattle Mariners for a 9-6 win in Monday’s opener of a three-game series at T-Mobile Park. Although the Mariners threatened, the Tigers kept them in check until Cal Raleigh’s two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth.
But the Tigers (1-3) survived to secure their first win of the 2025 season, bouncing back from three straight losses to the reigning World Series champion Los Angles Dodgers in their opening series at Dodger Stadium.
INJURY UPDATE: Tigers’ Gleyber Torres placed on injured list; Justyn-Henry Malloy called up
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In the first inning, all six runs scored by the Tigers were charged to Mariners right-hander Emerson Hancock, who recorded just two outs despite throwing 39 pitches.
The six runs were scored on seven hits and two walks.
The seven hits: Justyn-Henry Malloy (double), Kerry Carpenter (RBI single), Riley Greene (solo home run), Spencer Torkelson (single), Dillon Dingler (RBI single), Trey Sweeney (RBI single) and Javier Báez (two-RBI double). The two walks: Colt Keith on four pitches, and Malloy on five pitches.
Greene and Báez produced the biggest swings.
Greene battled for eight pitches before smacking Hancock’s sinker the opposite way for a solo home run to left field, making it 2-0. Báez refused to chase before pulling a two-strike, two-out sweeper into left field, making it 6-0.
It was Greene’s first homer in 2025.
Malloy, whom the Tigers called up from Triple-A Toledo to replace injured second baseman Gleyber Torres, finished 2-for-3 with one RBI, two walks and one strikeout, including a leadoff double to ignite the six-run first inning.
Everyone except Zach McKinstry from the nine starters in the lineup recorded at least one hit, with six of those players — Malloy, Carpenter, Torkelson, Dingler, Sweeney, Báez — delivering multi-hit performances.
Dingler, Sweeney and Báez had three hits apiece.
The Tigers finished with 18 hits and four walks, adding one run in the third inning, one run in the fourth and one run in the seventh.
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Jackson Jobe’s first MLB start
Right-hander Jackson Jobe — the top pitching prospect in baseball — allowed three runs on three hits and four walks with three strikeouts across four innings, throwing 79 pitches.
It was the first start of his MLB career.
Before Monday’s start, Jobe had two appearances in the big leagues as a reliever at the end of the 2024 campaign. Facing the Mariners, Jobe flashed his potential in his first outing of 2025 with a high-velocity fastball, a tough-to-hit slider and a swing-and-miss changeup, but he struggled with command.
He surrendered a pair of solo home runs on middle-middle pitches: a 97 mph fastball to Randy Arozarena in the second inning and an 84.7 mph changeup to Luke Raley in the fourth inning.
Those were his biggest mistakes, but Jobe also issued four walks, including one that led to a run in the third inning. His fastball remained a concern, allowing too much hard contact while failing to generate enough whiffs.
Jobe averaged nearly 20 pitches per inning.
Will Vest’s clutch strikeout
The Mariners had opportunities to rally in the fifth and sixth innings, but the Tigers shut them down.
In the fifth, left-hander Tyler Holton induced a groundout from Rowdy Tellez with runners on first and second. In the sixth, right-hander Will Vest struck out Julio Rodríguez swinging and stranded a runner on first.
Vest struck out the ever-dangerous Rodríguez with a down-and-away slider after setting him up with three consecutive 97 mph fastballs in a six-pitch battle.
The Mariners trimmed their deficit to 9-6 with Raleigh’s two-run homer off left-hander Brant Hurter with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, but Hurter escaped further damage.
Contact Evan Petzold at
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