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Dodgers defeat Tigers in 10 innings, 3-2

Dodgers pinch hitter Chone Figgins celebrates as he scores the winning run on a double by Carl Crawford in the 10th inning of the Dodgers' 3-2 win over the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Dodgers 3, Tigers 2 (10 innings)

KEY MOMENT: Carl Crawford’s 10th-inning double skipped by Detroit left fielder Rajai Davis, allowing Chone Figgins to score the winning run from first base. Figgins opened the inning by drawing a walk. Detroit sent the game into extra innings when the Dodgers chose not to walk Victor Martinez with first base open and the tying run on second base in the ninth and the Tigers first baseman burned them with a two-out run-scoring single against Kenley Jansen.

BOX SCORE: Dodgers 3, Tigers 2 (10)

AT THE PLATE: Dee Gordon led off with his first home run of the season against Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer, a 407-foot shot into the right-center-field pavilion. He then beat out a 90-foot dribbler for a single his next time up. Crawford had three hits, including the game winner, and stole a base. Former Angel Andrew Romine was the only Tiger to reach base twice, drawing two walks. Two-time American League MVP Miguel Cabrera didn’t get the ball out of the infield in four at-bats.

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ON THE MOUND: Former teammates Scherzer and Dan Haren were brilliant, with Scherzer giving up two runs and eight hits in seven innings and striking out eight, and Haren going six innings for the Dodgers, giving up three hits, one of which was a second-inning home run by Austin Jackson, his first of the season. Tiger reliever Joba Chamberlain struck out the side in the ninth inning but wound up with the loss after walking pinch-hitter Figgins to start the 10th.

EXTRA BASES: Catcher A.J. Ellis underwent a 20-minute arthroscopic procedure Tuesday to clean up cartilage in his left knee. Ellis, who got injured running the bases Saturday, is expected back by the end of May. Yasiel Puig sat out his second straight game because of a left thumb injury. Puig, who is day to day, met with a hand doctor Tuesday and is being fitted for a protective splint similar to the one Hanley Ramirez used after undergoing surgery on his right thumb last spring. Former Angel Torii Hunter left the game in the fifth inning because of a left knee contusion suffered when he slid into the right-field wall going after Tim Federowicz’s second-inning foul ball.

UP NEXT: Provided he is cleared by the medical staff, Josh Beckett will come off the disabled list Wednesday to make his first start of the season against Detroit’s Anibal Sanchez (0-0, 4.50 ERA), last year’s AL ERA leader, in a 7 p.m. game at Dodger Stadium. Beckett’s 2013 season was ended in July when he underwent surgery to remove a rib and he started this season on the disabled list because of a right thumb contusion. He then rolled his right ankle in a minor league rehab start last week but performed well in agility drills Tuesday. On the air: TV: SportsNet LA; Radio: 570, 1020 (Spanish)

kevin.baxter@latimes.com

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