Framber Valdez threw seven innings of one-run ball to lead the Detroit Tigers to a 4-1 win over the visiting Athletics on Thursday night.
Jake Rogers, Zack McKinstry and Eduardo Valencia hit home runs for Detroit, which won its fifth consecutive game and completed a sweep of the A’s, who have dropped six straight contests.
Valdez (5-6) sat down the first 11 hitters he faced before hitting Shea Langeliers with two outs in the fourth. In total, he allowed just three hits, struck out nine and issued no walks in a dominant performance.
Valencia, called up to give Detroit cover at catcher as starter Dillon Dingler deals with a right hand contusion, pinch hit for Kerry Carpenter in the seventh. The 26-year-old from Venezuela delivered a homer to center off Hogan Harris, becoming the 10th Tigers player to homer in his first career major league at-bat.
Dingler, who was hit by a foul ball behind the plate in the Tigers’ 6-1 win over the A’s on Wednesday, is considered day-to-day.
Jacob Wilson was 2-for-4 for the Athletics, whose five hits were all singles. Left fielder Zack Gelof left in the third inning after banging his leg on the wall as he made a sliding catch in foul territory.
Jack Perkins (2-5) took the loss for the Athletics, serving as the bulk reliever on a scheduled bullpen day and allowing three runs in three innings. Jose Suarez was the opener, throwing a perfect 1 1/3 innings to begin the game.
The first baserunner for either team came with a bang when Rogers hit his second home run in as many games, a solo shot off Perkins with one out in the third.
The A’s tied the game in the fifth when Henry Bolte legged out an RBI fielder’s choice on a grounder to first. Wilson had ended Valdez’s no-hit bid with a leadoff single and came around to score after Lawrence Butler was hit by a pitch and Colby Thomas flew out to right.
McKinstry quickly restored Detroit’s advantage in the bottom of the inning with a two-run homer.
Closer Kenley Jansen allowed the tying run to come to the plate in the ninth when he walked Jonah Heim and gave up a single to Wilson, but he induced lineouts from Butler and Tyler Soderstrom for the final two outs to record his 11th save.
