LAKELAND, Fla. (AP) - Joe Nathan allowed four runs while only getting one out in the ninth inning as the Miami Marlins rallied for an 8-4 win over the Detroit Tigers on Sunday.
Nathan entered without having allowed a run in eight games. Jeff Mathis, who went 4 for 5, had a tiebreaking two-run double for Miami.
“Joe was fine,” Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. “It didn’t mean anything. He’s throwing as well as he has all spring. Nothing of concern.”
Nathan, who was signed after saving 43 games for the Texas Rangers, allowed three hits and walked one, with one strikeout.
Jacob Turner allowed one run in six innings for the Marlins. He gave up three hits and struck out five. The Marlins’ Mathis and Giancarlo Stanton homered off Drew Smyly.
Smyly pitched five innings, walking three, and yielding eight hits.
STARTING TIME
Marlins: Turner had his longest stint of the spring, and said he’s ready for the regular season.
“I fell into a little bit of a rut in the fourth inning, but I felt better,” Turner said. “I feel like I can go six or seven (innings) right now. I’d be ready if the season started today.”
Marlins manager Mike Redmond likes what he’s seen of Turner this spring.
“He has been pitching great,” Redmond said. “He’s been very efficient. He’s been ahead in the count and I really like him.”
Tigers: Smyly gave up the two home runs and said he still feels fine trying to go from a relief pitcher to a starter.
“My arm feels fine,” Smyly said. “I got behind a couple of times and you can’t do that, but I got the outs. I could have gone more than five innings, but I am happy with where I am.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Marlins: OF Marcell Ozuna suffered a cramp in his left leg during the fifth inning, but Redmond downplayed it.
“He was coming out of the game anyway,” he said.
Tigers: IF Don Kelly left after the first inning with a left hamstring strain. He will be checked Monday, and Ausmus said Kelly was day-to-day.
NEW KID IN TOWN
New shortstop Andrew Romine made his first appearance in a Tigers uniform, going 0-for-4. The Tigers got Romine in a trade with the Angels for LHP Jose Alvarez. Romine, who batted .259 in 47 games for the Angels last season, was brought in to replace Jose Iglesias who is out for the season with stress fractures in both legs.
SCHERZER SPEAKS
In a press release issued Sunday, the Detroit Tigers announced that there will be no further negotiations with starting pitcher Max Scherzer until after the 2014 season.
Scherzer, 29, who will earn $15.53 million this season went 21-3 with a 2.90 ERA last season while winning the AL Cy Young award. He also went 2-1 with 34 strikeouts in the postseason.
The Tigers are already committed to two high-price deals with starting pitchers Anibal Sanchez, who will make $16.8 million per season through 2017, and Justin Verlander who will make $28 million per season through 2019.
Scherzer, acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks before the 2010 season, has said he will not discuss his contract during the season, but has said he wants to remain a Tiger.
“They respect where I’m at. I respect where they’re at, and we’ll revisit this after the season,” he said. “I still want to be in Detroit. I love this clubhouse and everything about it. There’s been a history of this team signing free agents so hopefully I’ll be a part of that history as well. It just didn’t get done now. We felt it would be best to revisit this after the season. I know we have a great thing here, so I’m not saying the grass is greener on the other side.”
BLAST OFF
Stanton’s homer off of Smyly was the talk of TigerTown. It easily cleared the fence in left-center field and went most of the way up the beam beyond the fence.
Smyly said he was amused. “I tried four straight fastballs and thought I could sneak one by him,” he said. “He got it all. Sometimes I don’t watch them go out and get mad at myself, but this time I had to watch to see how far it would go. It almost hit the light pole. You have to be impressed.”
JUST AN EXPERIMENT
The Tigers started Miguel Cabrera at his old position - third base - and let Don Kelly start at first. Cabrera moved back to first in the fifth inning while Danny Worth moved to third. Ausmus said it will be rare to see Cabrera at third, but he wouldn’t hesitate on occasion.
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