LOS ANGELES (AP) - Dodgers manager Don Mattingly is going to have a difficult time keeping all five of his outfielders happy, because four of them are regulars. And the way Carl Crawford has been hitting lately, it isn’t likely he’ll get a day off anytime soon.
Crawford hit an RBI double in the 10th inning, lifting Los Angeles to a 3-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night.
Joba Chamberlain (0-1) struck out the side in the ninth for Detroit, but walked pinch-hitter Chone Figgins to open the 10th and was replaced by Phil Coke.
Dee Gordon popped out to first baseman Victor Martinez on an attempted sacrifice bunt, but Figgins scampered home when Crawford lined a 2-0 pitch past left fielder Rajai Davis.
“I was just trying to stay short and take it the other way,” Crawford said. “Once it got past the outfielder, I knew Chone was fast enough to score.”
The Tigers were down to their final out in the ninth when Victor Martinez got Max Scherzer off the hook with an RBI single against Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen - who had just struck out two-time AL MVP Miguel Cabrera - to make it 2-all. Ian Kinsler started the rally with a leadoff double.
J.P. Howell (1-0) pitched a perfect 10th.
Austin Jackson homered for the Tigers in an interleague matchup between division winners from last season.
Gordon led off the first with a homer against Scherzer, and Justin Turner had a sacrifice fly in the seventh.
Scherzer allowed two runs and eight hits over seven innings and struck out eight, after throwing eight scoreless innings of four-hit ball last Wednesday in another no-decision against Kansas City at Comerica Park.
“I can only control what I can control,” Scherzer said. “The win-loss thing is a fluke. All last year, I said: ’I’m 21-3 because I had a good offense behind me.’ But I’m sure those guys will pick it up and they’ll score 10 more runs for me.”
Matt Kemp, who hit his first two homers of the season in Sunday’s win over the Giants, was 0 for 2 against Scherzer and is hitless in 18 career at-bats against him.
“He’s a great hitter, so you’ve got to be aggressive right back at him,” Scherzer said. “You’ve got to go up there with a plan, just kind of feel what kind of pitches are working in a particular at-bat and keep attacking.”
The Tigers got a scare in the second when 38-year-old Torii Hunter tried to make a sliding catch of a foul ball by Tim Federowicz down the right field line and jammed his left knee as the ball landed in the seats.
“It was a tough play,” Hunter said. “It’s weird over there, because you have the foul line right next to the wall. But you don’t want to give up on the ball because it might stay fair. So you use whatever maneuver you can come up with and try to keep the ball from bouncing on that line.”
The nine-time Gold Glove winner, who homered in each of his previous three games, remained down for several minutes while a trainer looked him over and flexed the knee. Hunter gingerly went back to his position, but left the game when his teammates took the field in the fifth. The Tigers called the injury a bruise.
“The style that I play, I play rough. I try to get everything. It’s just my instincts. I can’t help it,” Hunter said. “Unfortunately, I’ve got a swollen knee because of it. We iced it three times just to get the swelling down. My wrist is jammed up and my shoulder’s a little sore. But it’s not going to keep me out - hopefully not at all, and I’ll be ready to go tomorrow.”
Dan Haren pitched six innings and allowed three hits, including Jackson’s homer in the second. Alex Avila followed with a single, Detroit’s last hit until Ian Kinsler’s double in the ninth.
The injuries kept mounting for the Dodgers, who just got Kemp off the disabled list Friday and are expecting to activate right-hander Josh Beckett to start Wednesday night.
Catcher A.J. Ellis joined Clayton Kershaw, setup man Brian Wilson and Chad Billingsley on the DL, and right fielder Yasiel Puig sat out his second game because of a swollen left thumb.
NOTES: Don Kelly replaced Hunter in right field. … Ellis had arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn meniscus, and is expected to be sidelined four to six weeks. Federowicz was recalled from Triple-A Albuquerque.
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