DETROIT _ A day later, the task remained tall.
After the Detroit Tigers were overpowered by former American League Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber on Tuesday, his teammate with equally as overpowering stuff faced them on Wednesday afternoon.
But while the Tigers were only able to chip away at Kluber in the series opener, they were able to chase Bauer in evening the series with a 4-1 win at Comerica Park.
The tone was set by Niko Goodrum, who hit a two-run home run off Bauer in the top of the first inning. Another home run _ John Hicks' first of the season _ would come in the sixth, followed by an RBI single by Josh Harrison later in the inning.
The four runs were enough for left-hander Matthew Boyd to earn his first win of the season. Boyd turned in a third consecutive quality start, allowing one run on five hits over six innings. He struck out six batters and walked one.
His only blemish was a hanging breaking ball to Hanley Ramirez in the sixth inning, which Ramirez ripped for an RBI single.
The offense against Bauer was the biggest story, though: The Tigers recorded 10 hits against him and combined with Kluber, 17 hits in 11 2/3 innings.
Joe Jimenez pitched a scoreless eighth inning and Shane Greene picked up his eighth save of the season.
In cold conditions _ game-time temperature was 39 degrees but felt much colder because of a whipping wind _ Bauer seemed sure to have his way with the Tigers' offense. Not so. Miguel Cabrera set the table for Goodrum with an early single, before Goodrum hit his first home run of the season, on a line to right field. The Tigers put a baserunner on in each inning against Bauer, who had previously allowed one earned run in 14 innings pitched this season.
Another ho-hum, solid performance from the lefty, this time without the bevy of strikeouts he recorded in his last outing against the Yankees. Though his pitch count climbed early, Boyd pitched efficiently the rest of the way, allowing manager Ron Gardenhire to mix-and-match the final three innings with the bullpen. Boyd struck out six batters and for the time being, moved into the top spot in the major leagues with 29 strikeouts.
After Boyd's six innings, Gardenhire went to Victor Alcantara in the seventh. Alcantara allowed a leadoff double and retired the next batter, bringing lefty Daniel Stumpf in to face a pair of lefty hitters. Stumpf did his job, retiring both, giving way to the back-end tag-team of Jimenez and Greene. Jimenez retired the first two men before walking the bases loaded, which prompted Gardenhire to bring in Buck Farmer. Farmer ended the inning on a groundout to second base and Greene recorded his eighth save in the ninth.
