DETROIT _ The best part of being back at home, Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said, is sleeping in his own bed. The second-best part, then, would be what the Tigers did to the Mariners on Tuesday evening at Comerica Park.
After a nine-game road trip in which players dropped like flies and more things went wrong than right, everything came up roses in the team's homecoming. Well, almost everything: Jordan Zimmermann is still getting hit hard.
But the right-hander received a month's worth of run support as the Tigers exploded offensively to beat the Mariners, 19-9.
It marked the first time the team has scored 13 or more runs in consecutive games since 1993, according to Baseball-Reference.com. The game was put out of reach with a nine-run fifth inning, the team's highest single-inning output since 2008.
They have done so without first baseman Miguel Cabrera, who is currently on the 10-day disabled list with a right groin strain.
Top-to-bottom, the Tigers' lineup starred offensively.
Ian Kinsler went 4-for-5 with four runs scored and two RBIs. Tyler Collins drove in three runs. Nick Castellanos drove in two more. Even Victor Martinez legged out a double.
Once again, the Tigers' catching duo continued to crush.
Down a run early after Zimmermann allowed two in the top of the first inning, James McCann hit his fifth home run of the season to give the Tigers a lead they wouldn't lose. McCann's opposite field shot off Mariners ace righty Felix Hernandez was his third home run to give the Tigers a lead this season.
Hernandez, who made his major league debut at Comerica Park in 2005, was not long for this one. He allowed four runs in two innings, marking the third-shortest start of his career. The Tigers were on him early.
So, too, were the Mariners against Zimmermann, but, like his last outing against the Rays, he was able to pitch six innings. Still too much solid contact for the Tigers' liking, his line looked like this: 11 hits, five earned runs, no walks, one strikeout.
Zimmermann was the beneficiary of a big offensive performance.
Up two runs in the fourth inning, Justin Upton hit his fourth home run of the season, a two-run shot, followed by Alex Avila's fourth. It marked the first time this season the Tigers hit back-to-back home runs.
The Mariners responded with back-to-back home runs of their own in the top of the fifth inning off Zimmermann, before the Tigers exploded with nine runs in the bottom half.
In the fifth, the Tigers opened with five consecutive hits. Collins hit a RBI double. Castellanos hit a two-run single. McCann walked home a run with the bases loaded, Romine plated another on an infield single, Kinsler two more on a broken-bat single and finally, Collins hit a two-run single.
Every player in the Tigers' starting lineup recorded a hit. Only Castellanos and Martinez were left without multiple hits.
