Tigers, masters of close wins, aim to keep rolling vs. A's

The Detroit Tigers would rather win by comfortable margins. Through the season's first week, however, they've done well living on the danger zone.

The Tigers are 6-1, though none of the victories was easy. They recorded three one-run wins in nine-inning games, and the other three triumphs came in extra innings.

Detroit won its home opener 5-4 over the Oakland A's on Friday afternoon behind Gio Urshela's RBI double in the eighth inning. The second game of the three-game set will be played Saturday afternoon.

The Tigers had a three-run lead on Friday, but ace Tarik Skubal was unable to hold it.

"We've been good in close games so far," Detroit manager A.J. Hinch said. "It's a dangerous way to live. Those close games can flip in a heartbeat. You want to keep pushing and separate yourself and give yourself some breathing room and not have to continually go to the same guys in the bullpen."

The Tigers' offense got a boost from a number of sources on Friday. Spencer Torkelson had two doubles and two runs, while Matt Vierling and Mark Canha blasted solo home runs.

"For us to be our best, we're going to need a variety of guys," Hinch said. "We're not just waiting for one guy to get up."

Kenta Maeda will look for a better outing than he experienced in his Tigers debut. Maeda allowed six runs, including three home runs, and seven hits in 3 1/3 innings to the Chicago White Sox on March 30. He was fortunate to come away with a no-decision, as the Tigers rallied to win 7-6 in 10 innings.

Maeda signed a two-year, $24 million contract with Detroit as a free agent in November.

"I don't think I really had a good pitch (last Saturday)," Maeda said through an interpreter.

Maeda is 0-1 with a 9.45 ERA in four career outings (three starts) against Oakland.

Unlike Maeda, A's right-hander Paul Blackburn was unlucky to get a no-decision in his season debut. Blackburn had a stellar outing on Sunday, holding the Cleveland Guardians scoreless for seven innings on three hits. He also issued just one walk while recording three strikeouts.

Blackburn used a mix of six pitches to keep the Guardians off-balance. It was a carryover from spring training, when he gave up just four runs in 17 2/3 innings (2.04 ERA).

"When I'm good, that's kind of how it is," Blackburn said. "Being able to throw five or six pitches at any given time in any count, right-handed or left-handed (batter), gives the hitters a tough time to look for something."

Blackburn departed his Sunday start with a 3-0 lead. The bullpen blew the lead before the A's pulled out a 4-3 victory, the only one the team has recorded through eight games this season.

The A's hope to see more of the same from Blackburn throughout the season.

"Paul was as advertised," manager Mark Kotsay said. "He executed everything. Against a contact-type team, the changeup becomes a power pitch. We saw that (Sunday), and the result was a lot of ground balls to the pull side and soft contact. He did a tremendous job for us. ... We needed that start."

Blackburn is 1-1 with a 1.17 ERA in two career appearances (one start) against the Tigers.