Cooper's slam seals Marlins' sweep of Tigers
Garrett Cooper blasted a two-out grand slam to cap a five-run, ninth-inning rally, and the Miami Marlins pushed their winning streak to six games by downing the host Detroit Tigers 5-2 on Thursday.
Cooper, who hit his first career homer on Wednesday, powered a Shane Greene slider over the left field wall to stun the Tigers, who dropped all nine games of their homestand.
Harold Ramirez reached on an error by Tigers third baseman Dawel Lugo to lead off the ninth. After a groundout advanced the runner, Neil Walker stroked a single to right to bring in Ramirez. Jorge Alfaro walked on four pitches, and Miguel Rojas hit into a fielder's choice as second baseman Ronny Rodriguez bobbled a potential double-play ball.
Pinch hitter Curtis Granderson was intentionally walked after Rojas stole second. Cooper then delivered his big blow to left field on an 0-1 pitch.
Tyler Kinley (1-0), who gave up an eighth-inning run, was credited with his first career win. Sergio Romo pitched the ninth for his ninth save. Miami starter Trevor Richards gave up a run on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings.
Niko Goodrum had two hits and scored two runs, Miguel Cabrera supplied two hits and an RBI, and Nicholas Castellanos added three hits for Detroit.
Matthew Boyd pitched six-plus scoreless innings and scattered five hits while striking out seven for the Tigers. Greene (0-2) was charged with five unearned runs in his lone inning.
Detroit pushed across the game's first run in the sixth inning. Goodrum singled with one out and advanced to third on Castellanos' bloop double. After Richards intentionally walked Cabrera, Rodriguez hit a sacrifice fly to left.
The Tigers increased the lead to 2-0 in the eighth. Goodrum reached on an infield hit, moved to second on Castellanos' bloop single and scored on Cabrera's opposite-field single. Kinley escaped the inning by getting Rodriguez to ground into a double play.
--Field Level Media
