Tigers Christen New Home With 5-2 Win

Coming home is what baseball is all about, even when it’s a new house.

Gregg Jefferies and Bobby Higginson each drove in two runs Tuesday as the Detroit Tigers defeated the Seattle Mariners, 5-2, at Comerica Park, the Tigers’ first home game in 104 years that wasn’t played at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull in Detroit.

“That was nice,” said first baseman Tony Clark, who made the game’s key defensive play in the sixth inning. “Now it’s all over and they can’t change anything. This is home. It feels good to break in with a win at our new home.”

Opening a ballpark with a victory has become a Detroit tradition. The Tigers, then in the Western League, routed Columbus, 17-2, in the Bennett Park opener on April 28, 1896. When Navin Field, later called Tiger Stadium, opened on the same site on April 20, 1912, Detroit beat Cleveland, 6-5.

Comerica Park, built at a cost of $300 million in downtown Detroit, has all the amenities, from statues of Ty Cobb and Al Kaline to luxury suites and a carousel, yet it also seemed to satisfy the baseball purists.

“It’s a beautiful stadium,” said the Mariners’ John Olerud, whose first-inning double was Comerica’s first hit. “And it’s big. I thought there were some balls today that definitely would have been home runs in the old Tiger Stadium.”

Before a capacity crowd of 39,168 on a cold afternoon that featured a steady drizzle, players wore parkas--with hoods up--under their uniforms. Their breath was visible in vapors--like football players on a November day.

While the ballpark was full when the game began, a 40-degree temperature and the rain caused more than half the fans to leave after an inning or two.

Brian Moehler (1-1), who started and won the final game at Tiger Stadium, gave up 10 hits and one walk, but only two runs--one earned--in six innings.

“It’s an honor to be able to pitch this game,” he said. “I guess I’ll go down in the record books. I would have wanted this, win or lose.”

Boston 13, Minnesota 4--Carl Everett hit two home runs, Nomar Garciaparra went four for five and Ramon Martinez became the first Boston pitcher to win other than his brother, Pedro, as the Red Sox romped at Boston in their 100th home opener.

Pedro started the Red Sox’s first and sixth games, giving up one run and striking out 23 in 14 1/3 innings. The Red Sox lost the four games in between.

Ramon Martinez (1-1) appeared headed for his second consecutive early exit, allowing four of Minnesota’s first five batters to reach as the Twins went ahead, 1-0. In his first start last Wednesday, he gave up seven runs in 1 1/3 innings at Seattle.

But he gave up only three hits in his other four innings Tuesday, and the Red Sox scored two runs in the first and eight in the second.

Chicago 13, Tampa Bay 6--The White Sox hit four home runs at St. Petersburg, Fla., including consecutive shots by Chris Singleton and Carlos Lee in the fifth inning.

Singleton hit a two-run homer that put Chicago up, 6-5, and Lee followed with a solo shot that extended his hitting streak to eight games.

Ray Durham hit a leadoff homer and former Dodger Paul Konerko, who went four for five with four RBIs, had a two-run inside-the-park homer in the first inning for the White Sox.

Konerko also had a two-run double during a four-run eighth-inning.

Chicago’s Frank Thomas, who had a cortisone shot Monday for tendinitis in the inner heel of his right foot, left after five innings because the foot was sore. He went one for three as the designated hitter and has a hit in all eight games.

Kansas City 7, Baltimore 5--Brian Johnson’s two-run homer with one out in the 12th inning lifted the Royals at Kansas City, Mo.

The Royals, who had the potential winning run in scoring position in the ninth, 10th and 11th innings, got an infield single from Joe Randa to lead off the 12th against Tim Worrell (1-1). One out later, Johnson hit a shot to left-center for his second home run of the season.

Jose Santiago (1-0) pitched the 12th for the victory.

Cal Ripken homered in his first at-bat, leaving him five hits away from 3,000. Ripken, who started the season with 2,991 hits, got home run No. 404 on a 2-0 pitch from rookie right-hander Chad Durbin. He was one for five.

Cleveland 5, Oakland 1--Charles Nagy gave up four hits in eight innings and David Justice homered at Oakland as the Indians won their fifth in a row.

Nagy (1-1) struck out eight and did not allow an Oakland baserunner past second with the exception of Jason Giambi’s fourth homer.