Rookie Keider Montero pitched six solid innings as the Detroit Tigers defeated the host Seattle Mariners 4-2 on Tuesday.
Parker Meadows homered for the Tigers, who won for just the second time in games.
Luke Raley went deep for the Mariners, who lost their second in a row and saw their lead over the second-place Houston Astros in the American League West trimmed to a half-game.
Montero (2-5), who entered the game with a 6.18 ERA through his first eight appearances, including seven starts, allowed one run on four hits. The right-hander walked one and struck out a career-high eight.
Tyler Holton, Detroit’s fifth pitcher of the night, got the final out to register his fourth save of the season.
Mariners ace Luis Castillo (9-11) took the loss despite making his sixth consecutive quality start. The righty allowed three runs on eight hits over six innings, with no walks and nine strikeouts.
The Tigers broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning. Wenceel Perez led off by lining a single into right field and advanced to third on groundouts by Justyn-Henry Malloy and Bligh Madris. Meadows grounded a two-out single to center to make it 1-0.
Detroit scored twice more in the fifth. Zach McKinstry lined a leadoff single to center and Javier Baez grounded a single to right, sending McKinstry to third. With one out, Colt Keith and Perez grounded run-scoring singles to right to extend the lead to 3-0.
Raley got the Mariners on the board with one out in the bottom of the inning, hitting a first-pitch slider over the center field fence.
The only other hits Montero allowed were a leadoff single by Victor Robles in the first, a one-out single by Dylan Moore in the third and a leadoff single by Josh Rojas in the sixth. Montero hit Robles with a pitch in the sixth to put two runners on with no outs, but he got Randy Arozarena to ground into a double play for the second time to thwart the potential rally.
Meadows homered to right with two outs in the eighth off Trent Thornton to give the Tigers an insurance run. It was his fourth long ball of the year.
The Mariners scored the game’s final run in the ninth as Jorge Polanco’s two-out fly ball fell between center fielder Meadows and right fielder Perez, allowing Cade Marlowe to score from second base. Holton came on and fanned pinch hitter Mitch Garver on three pitches to end the game.