Victor Reyes’ single scored the go-ahead run in the fifth, Tyler Alexander ended a personal four-game losing streak and the host Detroit Tigers topped the Los Angeles Angels 4–3 on Saturday.
Jonathan Schoop, Willi Castro and Jeimer Candelario drove in the other runs for Detroit, which had lost 10 of its previous 12 games.
Alexander (3–7) gave up three runs and seven hits in six innings. Alex Lange, Joe Jimenez and Gregory Soto each followed with an inning of scoreless relief, as Soto recorded his 23rd save.
Angels starter Reid Detmers (4–4) gave up all of the Tigers’ runs on 10 hits in 4 1/3 innings.
Shohei Ohtani had two hits and scored a run for the Angels, Luis Rengifo contributed two hits and drove in a run and Andrew Velazquez added a solo homer.
The Angels scored in the first when Ohtani led off with a double, advanced on a groundout and scored on Rengifo’s single.
Velazquez made it 2–0 in the second with his sixth homer of the season. He ripped a fastball over the wall in right-center on the ninth pitch of the at-bat.
Detroit tied it in the bottom of the inning. Harold Castro led off with a double and scored on Schoop’s double. Schoop tried to score on Tucker Barnhart’s single but was thrown out at the plate. Schoop injured his right ankle on the play and was removed from the game.
After singles by Reyes and Riley Greene, Detmers walked Willi Castro to force in a run.
Los Angeles scored a run in the third when Rengifo singled, moved to third on David Fletcher’s single and scored on Jo Adell’s sacrifice fly.
Detroit came right back with a run in the bottom of the inning. Eric Haase led off with a double, moved up on a Harold Castro bunt and scored on Candelario’s sacrifice fly.
Candelario walked in the fifth and moved up on a Kody Clemens single, ending Detmers’ day. Reyes’ two-out single off Jaime Barria scored Candelario for a 4–3 Detroit lead.
