Tarik Skubal was scheduled to take the mound and throw out the first pitch of the day. Later, he realized that the Tigers were visitors to his Comerika Park and that Frankie Montas would be the first to step on the rubber for the A’s.
“Thank God someone mentioned it to me before the game, because I almost ran to the mound for the top of the first inning,” Skubal said. “Montas and I were going to get to the mound. It would have been crazy, but that’s baseball.”
The Detroit Tigers were the away team at their own park Tuesday, opening a lockout-induced doubleheader, snapping a six-game losing streak and a 27-inning scoreless streak with a 6-0 win over Oakland.
In the second game, the Athletics were visitors and won 4-1, thanks to Mexican Adrián Martínez (1-0), who covered five and a third scoreless innings to win in his debut in the majors.
In a matchup of last-place teams, Skubal (2-2) gave up three hits in seven innings, struck out five and walked three to win the first meeting. Jonathan Schoop homered and scored twice, raising his batting average from .139 to .154.
“It felt good to win,” Skubal said.
Then Oakland (12-19) won for the second time in 12 games and sent the Tigers (9-12) to their seventh loss in eight games.
Miguel Cabrera singled in the ninth inning of game two. He thus caught up with Wade Boggs in 30th place in history, with 3,010 hits.
Under Major League Baseball’s original schedule, announced last year, Detroit had to play three games in Oakland, April 4-6, in its second series of the season.
But the first week of the season was postponed because of the lockout, and the majors rescheduled one of the games as part of a doubleheader at Comerica Park, keeping Oakland as the nominal host.
The other games will be played as part of a doubleheader at the Oakland Coliseum on July 21, which would have been a bye during the All-Star break.
Detroit wore its white home uniform despite batting first, while the A’s wore green jerseys and gray pants. The Tigers were once again the home team in the second duel.
In that first game, Montas (2-3) gave up four runs on six hits over 6 1/3 innings, walking three.
Later, Alex Faedo (0-1) gave up two runs on four hits in five innings to take the loss.
In the first match, for the Tigres, Javier Báez 5-1 with a run scored, Willi Castro 4-3 with a run scored. The Dominican Jeimer Candelario 5-3 with three RBIs. The Venezuelan Harold Castro 5-0.
For the Athletics, the Dominicans Ramón Laureano 3-0, Cristian Pache 3-0. Panamanian Rafael Bethancourt 3-0. The Venezuelan Elvis Andurs 3-1.
In the second game, for the Athletics, the Dominicans Laureano 4-2 with a run scored, Luis Barrera 2-0 with an RBI, Pache 4-1 with an RBI.
For the Tigres, the Puerto Ricans Báez 4-0, Castro 3-2. The Dominican Candelario 4-0. The Venezuelan Cabrera 4-1 with a run scored.
