Spencer Torkelson’s two-run home run and Sawyer Gipson-Long’s 4 2/3 solid innings of relief pitching carried the Detroit Tigers to a 5-3 victory over the host Baltimore Orioles to open a three-game series Tuesday night.

Riley Greene, Gleyber Torres, Zach McKinstry and Wenceel Perez all had two hits for the Tigers, who have the best record in the major leagues.

Chase Lee (3-0) retired the only batter he faced and was awarded the victory. Then Gipson-Long held the Orioles to one run on three hits while striking out five without a walk. Tommy Kahnle and Will Vest did the rest from the mound, with Vest notching his 11th save despite allowing a run.

Baltimore third baseman Jordan Westburg, in his first game off an extended stint on the injury list, homed to lead off the bottom of the ninth.

Gunnar Henderson and Jackson Holliday each had two of the six hits for the Orioles, who’ve lost three of their last four games.

Brant Hurter was on the mound at the start for the Tigers in what was expected to be a short stint. He gave up one run in 2 2/3 innings.

Orioles starter Cade Povich (1-5) gave up five runs on nine hits in 4 2/3 innings

The Tigers opened the scoring on Perez’s sacrifice fly in the second inning. The Orioles countered on Gunnar Henderson’s two-out single in the third inning.

Javier Baez’s single with two outs in the fourth regained the lead for Detroit. Dillon Dingler’s two-out, fifth-inning RBI single came one batter before Torkelson homered on a smash to straight-away center field to stretch the margin to 5-1. It was his 16th long ball of the season.

That marked the end of Povich’s outing. The Orioles haven’t won a game he started since late April.

Holliday’s double, a wild pitch and Adley Rutschman’s sacrifice fly in the eighth inning produced the Orioles’ second run.

Baltimore’s offense was largely stagnant. Other than the six hits, they had two batters reach base via hit batsmen and drew one walk.

–Field Level Media