By NOAH TRISTER , AP Baseball Writer
DETROIT (AP) — James McCann, Justin Upton and Alex Avila homered for Detroit — and that was before the Tigers added nine runs in the fifth inning en route to a 19-9 rout of the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night.
Felix Hernandez (2-2) allowed four runs in two innings in his shortest outing since 2015, and Seattle’s next two pitchers fared even worse. Detroit finished with 24 hits, 19 of which came in the first five innings. That was despite injuries that kept Miguel Cabrera, J.D. Martinez and Jose Iglesias out of the lineup.
Jordan Zimmermann (2-1) allowed five runs in six innings. Jean Segura, Danny Valencia and Nelson Cruz hit solo homers for Seattle, but that wasn’t nearly enough to keep up with Detroit’s offensive onslaught.
Mikie Mahtook added another home run for the Tigers in the eighth. Ian Kinsler had four hits and four runs before being lifted for a pinch hitter in the seventh.
Detroit’s record for runs in a game is 21, last achieved on July 1, 1936.
The teams combined for 40 hits, breaking the Comerica Park record of 38 set by the Tigers and Chicago White Sox on April 13, 2006.
Hernandez squandered an early 2-0 lead, allowing a run in the first and three in the second. McCann’s two-run homer put Detroit ahead 3-2.
It was the shortest outing for Hernandez since he lasted only a third of an inning at Houston on June 12, 2015.
Reliever Chris Heston allowed a two-run homer by Upton in the fourth, then Avila followed with a solo shot to make it 7-2. Segura and Valencia hit consecutive homers for Seattle in the fifth, but the Tigers broke the game open when they sent 13 hitters to the plate in the bottom of the inning.
Andrew Romine, Kinsler and Tyler Collins had two hits apiece that inning. It was the most runs for Detroit in an inning since a nine-run fifth at Texas on Sept. 17, 2008.
Segura returned from the disabled list for Seattle and made an immediate contribution, but Mariners outfielder Mitch Haniger left in the third with a strained oblique.
Cabrera (groin), Martinez (foot), Iglesias (concussion) and JaCoby Jones (lip) are on the DL for the Tigers.
Heston allowed five runs in two innings, and reliever Evan Marshall allowed seven runs in two innings for Seattle.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mariners: Kyle Seager, who has been dealing with soreness in his right hip, did not play.
UP NEXT
Mariners: LHP James Paxton (2-0) starts for Seattle against the Tigers on Wednesday night in the second game of this series.
Tigers: LHP Daniel Norris (1-1) takes the mound for Detroit. Norris allowed four earned runs in his start last week at Tampa Bay, ending a streak of 21 starts with three or fewer.
