DETROIT—The Orioles’ offense produced more than it did when they were held to one hit on Friday night and Corbin Burnes responded with his best start of the season.
Burnes held the Detroit Tigers to two hits in seven shutout innings, and the Orioles defeated the Tigers, 4-2, before 33,133 at Comerica Park on Saturday night.
In the series opener, the Orioles didn’t have a baserunner until the eighth and a hit until Gunnar Henderson tripled with two outs in the ninth.
Henderson and Cedric Mullins began the game with walks against Detroit opener Beau Briskie, who became the first Tigers pitcher to start on two consecutive days since 1929.
Ryan O’Hearn singled against Ty Madden (1-1) in the second. In the third, Henderson doubled and scored on Mullins’ single for a 1-0 lead.
James McCann’s sacrifice fly and Henderson’s 37th home run against Kenta Maeda in the seventh put the Orioles (84-65) ahead, 4-0.
The win combined with the Boston Red Sox’s 7-1 win over the New York Yankees cut the Orioles’ deficit to two games in the American League East.
Colt Keith singled with one out against Burnes in the first inning, and Kerry Carpenter hit into a double play to end the inning. Burnes walked Jace Jung to lead off the third and retired his next 12 batters until Keith singled to lead off the seventh.
It was the first scoreless start of the season for Burnes (14-9), who struck out seven in addition to the walk.
Cionel Pérez allowed two hits in a scoreless eighth. Seranthony Domínguez allowed Parker Meadows’ leadoff home run in the ninth Keith followed with his third hit of the game before Carpenter flied to center, Riley Greene flied to right and Wenceel Pérez struck out but reached on a wild pitch.
Spencer Torkelson singled to right to score Keith. Zack McKinstry grounded to first for the final out.
Detroit (76-73) is 21-10 since August 11th, the best record in the major leagues over that time.