DETROIT -- — Eric Haase homered and drove in five runs and the Detroit Tigers rallied for a 6-5 win over the New York Mets on Wednesday in the first game of a doubleheader.
“This is huge — we've set ourselves up for a lot of great chances lately, but we haven't been able to get that big hit,” he said. “We've been playing better baseball lately and it is nice to get rewarded for it.”
Javier Baez also homered for the Tigers, who were hosting the Mets for the first time in seven years. The opening game of the series was rained out on Tuesday and rescheduled as a day-night doubleheader.
“Those guys helped us win the game — that's the important thing,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “But it isn't just the homers — (Haase) won the game for us with a single.”
The Tigers trailed 5-4 in the eighth, but Matt Vierling singled with one out and Adam Ottovino (0-2) hit Baez. Riley Greene grounded to first for the second out, but Haase hit a two-run single to right-center field.
“I don't have any excuses,” said Ottavino, who hadn't pitched in a week. “I just didn't execute in a big moment.”
Tyler Alexander (1-0) got the win by retiring the last batter in the eighth. Alex Lange pitched the ninth for his fourth save.
With a strong wind blowing out to left, the hitters had the advantage in the early innings. The Tigers took a 3-0 lead on Haase's first homer of the season in the first inning, but Tommy Pham, who had been mired in an 0-for-17 skid, hit a laser of a solo homer to left field his first time up as the Mets trimmed Detroit's lead to 3-1 in the second inning. Two batters after Pham, Mark Canha drilled an opposite field homer to get New York within 3-2..
Brett Baty -- starting against left-hander Joey Wentz -- smacked a leadoff single to center field and moved to second base on a careless error by center fielder Greene. A Tomas Nido single sent Baty to third, and he wound up scoring after left fielder Ibanez overthrew the cutoff man and the ball got by the catcher. Later in the inning, Francisco Lindor cracked a mammoth two-run homer to left field to make it 5-4, Mets.
“We did a really nice job of coming back and giving ourselves a chance to win,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said. “We just didn't finish it off.”
Mets starter Joey Luchesi only threw 46 pitches while allowing four runs in four innings, and could start Sunday on short rest.
“We're trying to give ourselves as many options as possible for Sunday and he's now an option,” Showalter said
Max Scherzer is back on the mound after a 10-game suspension, while Michael Lorenzen gets the start for Detroit.
The Mets and Tigers play Game 2 of their doubleheader at 6:40