DETROIT -- The chilly temperatures were no match for Jordan Zimmermann and the Detroit Tigers offense. Nick Castellanos and Miguel Cabrera drove in all of the team's offensive support, but it was Zimmermann's calm demeanor on the mound that set the pace. The Tigers won 4-0 over the New York Yankees to start the season 3-0.
Zimmermann gave the Tigers an effortless debut with the team. He scattered three walks and struck out only three, but he also gave up only two hits. He didn't begin to slow his pace until the seventh when he walked Mark Teixeira and threw a wild pitch to the new backstop. Despite that, he finished the inning with a resounding swinging strikeout of Chase Headley and received a standing ovation from the Tigers crowd.
Despite the chilly temperatures, the Tigers' bats were hot. Yankees starter Luis Severino didn't make it out of the sixth inning before the offense had tagged him with 11 hits and three runs. Miguel Cabrera got the party started with a quality at-bat, fighting off several pitches before nailing a liner to right, scoring Ian Kinsler from second base.
The Tigers rattled off four straight singles and an RBI groundout in the fourth, giving Zimmermann some breathing room. And then Cabrera went boom. In the seventh inning he drove a 3-1 pitch to deep right for his first home run of the year. If that wasn't enough, Castellanos finished the day with four hits.
ROARS:
Jordan Zimmermann: Gave up no runs across seven solid innings, walking three and striking out the same.
Tigers offense: Strung together 13 hits, scoring four runs in the process. Victor Martinez, Justin Upton, and Anthony Gose went hitless for the day, but Gose drove in a run on a 4-6 groundout RBI.
Miguel Cabrera: Hit a monster moonshot opposite field deep into the right field seats, his first dinger of the year.
Nick Castellanos: Had a four-hit day and made the first defensive gem at Comerica of the year -- an over the left shoulder grab that left him lying face-first on the grass in foul territory.
Bullpen: Justin Wilson and Kyle Ryan gave the Tigers two scoreless innings, one apiece. As they should.
HISSES:
Justin Upton: Finished 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, including a strikeout facing once-Tigers prospect Luis Cessa.
Victor Martinez: Also went without a hit and also struck out against Cessa.
STREAKS AND STATS:
- Miguel Cabrera's RBI single in the first inning was the 1,447th of his career. Only four Tigers players have a higher career RBI total: Ty Cobb (1,933), Al Kaline (1,582), Harry Heilmann (1,540), and Sam Crawford (1,525).
- Miguel Cabrera hit the 409th home run of his career.
- Nick Castellanos' four-hit day was the third of his career. His last was on Aug. 19, 2015 vs. the Cubs.
- James McCann's 119 games without an error is the longest streak in MLB since 1913.
- Former Tigers prospect Luis Cessa, traded to the Yankees in the offseason for current Tigers reliever Justin Wilson, made his MLB debut facing his old club. His first MLB strikeout was vs. Justin Upton.
- The announced crowd of 45,049 was the fourth-largest in Comerica Park history and third-largest Opening Day in history at the ballpark.
- The Tigers challenged an out ruling at second in the eighth. The call was overturned after a 2:21 review -- nothing resulted from that continuation.
WIN PROBABILITY GRAPH:
Source: FanGraphs