Brice Turang drove in four runs and the visiting Milwaukee Brewers opened their three-game series at Detroit by pounding the Tigers, 12-4, on Tuesday.
William Contreras had two hits, drove in two runs and scored another for the Brewers. David Hamilton supplied four hits and scored twice, while Sal Frelick, Luis Rengifo and Blake Perkins each scored two runs and drove in another.
Starter Kyle Harrison gave up one run and four hits in three-plus innings. Grant Anderson (1-1) tossed two innings of scoreless relief to get the win.
Detroit starter Keider Montero (1-2) allowed three runs and five hits in 5 2/3 innings.
Small ball allowed the Brewers to gain a 3-0 lead in the second. Garrett Mitchell reached on an infield single and Rengifo walked. Frelick brought in Mitchell with a single and Hamilton’s bunt hit loaded the bases. Turang followed with a broken bat single to right, knocking home Rengifo and Frelick.
Detroit broke through with a run in the fourth but came away disappointed it didn’t get more. Greene and Spencer Torkelson walked and Hao-Yu Lee singled to load the bases. Anderson replaced Harrison and promptly got Javier Baez to hit into a double play as Greene scored. Anderson then struck out pinch-hitter Kerry Carpenter.
A botched pickoff allowed the Brewers to extend their lead in the seventh. Enmanuel De Jesus got the first two outs of the inning. Hamilton then singled and Perkins walked. With Turang up, De Jesus caught Hamilton straying off second base but his throw was errant, allowing Hamilton to scamper to third. Turang then singled to left to score him and Contreras knocked in Perkins with another single.
Milwaukee erupted for seven runs in the eighth against De Jesus and Connor Seabold to make it 12-1. Gary Sanchez led off with a triple and Mitchell followed with another. Rengifo dropped in a bloop single to score Mitchell. Perkins, Turang, Conteras, Jake Bauers and Sanchez had the other RBIs during the outburst.
Detroit backup catcher Jake Rogers pitched the ninth. The Tigers scored three runs in the bottom of the inning.
