Tigers 10, Marlins 3: The offense is red-hot and Daniel Norris struck out 8 batters

For the second straight day the Tigers’ offense laid waste to opposing pitchers. With Daniel Norris on the mound for a solid start and plenty of run support, the Tigers won 10-3 against the Marlins. With the two-game series sweep, they now hit the road on a high note through the MLB All-Star break.

Norris wasn’t perfect but the Tigers’ red-hot offense ensured a lead early on. Marlins starter Tom Koehler was not spared as Detroit tagged him to four runs in the first and drove him from the game after three innings. He gave up five runs in all but their bullpen didn’t escape damage either.

Miguel Cabrera destroyed a ball out to left-center for a solo home run in the fourth, and Steven Moya and Jarrod Saltalamacchia teamed up for back-to-back homers in the fifth. Five players had multi-hit games while Norris did his best to work through an odd day. He struck out a career-high eight batters on Wednesday but he did so at the expense of his pitch count.

Norris had good stuff but too often it appeared he was trying to be too fine with his pitches, and he paid for it by lasting only five innings. Even so, he managed to minimize the damage to two runs in the second, giving him a good but not great day. Luckily for Detroit, his “OK” performance was fairly solid.

ROARS:

Tigers offense: Hit the stuffings out of the baseball to the tune of 15 hits on 10 runs. There were three home runs — Miguel Cabrera, Steven Moya, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia — which gave fans curly fries for the second straight game.

1-4 batters: Ian Kinsler, Cameron Maybin, Miguel Cabrera, and Victor Martinez combined to go 9-for-18 with a home run (Cabrera) and six RBI.

Daniel Norris: Career-high eight strikeouts in five innings. Gave up only two runs on eight hits and walked a batter.

Bullpen: One run allowed but it had no effect especially with the lead the offense gave them to work with. Kyle Ryan was stellar.

HISSES:

None.

STATS AND INFO:

• Miguel Cabrera’s home run in the fourth was his 18th of the year and No. 426 for his career, tying him with Billy Williams at 48th in MLB history. Statcast had his home run distance at 459 feet and 114 mph, but ESPN Stats & Info corrected that to 451 feet and 109.9 mph.
• Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s home run in the fifth was his first since May 12.
• Steven Moya and Saltalamacchia’s homers were the sixth time the Tigers have gone back-to-back this year.
• Saltalamacchia finished a triple shy of the cycle and had his first three-hit game of the year, his first since July 24, 2014 with the Marlins against the Braves.
• The Tigers are 4-0 versus the Marlins this year.

WIN PROBABILITY GRAPH: