At long last, Jordan Zimmermann found himself at the center of a locker room celebration.
“It’s been a while,” he said.
On Monday night, Zimmermann got his first win in 18 starts dating to last season, ending a skid of 10 consecutive losing decisions as the Detroit Tigers beat the Los Angeles Angels 7-2. It was his first victory since Sept. 5 last year.
Photo: Kelvin Kuo-USA Today
“I was happy to get out there and keep the game close, you know, and give these guys a chance to win,” said Zimmermann (1-8), who allowed two runs in 5-1/3 innings. “We scored a bunch of runs, and all that matters is we got the win.”
Zimmermann avoided setting a team record for most consecutive starts without a win, having already tied Adam Bereno and his stretch of 17 starts during the 2002 and 2003 seasons.
Miguel Cabrera homered and drove in three, while Jordy Mercer also connected to help the Tigers improve to 2-15 against the American League West this season. Both wins have come against the Angels.
“We needed a win, no matter which way we look at it and no matter who did it,” Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said. “We’ve really struggled, we know that. We came out and played a really nice ballgame.”
Kole Calhoun homered for the Angels, who dropped to 1-4 during their seven-game home stand. Jaime Barria (4-4) gave up three runs, two earned, in five innings.
Mercer pushed the Tigers’ lead to 3-0 with a solo homer in the fifth, but Calhoun got the Angels on the board with a solo homer off the top of the wall in left field in the bottom half of the inning to make it 3-1.
Christin Stewart left the game after a hard collision into the wall trying to pull back Calhoun’s 24th homer of the season.
Gardenhire said that Stewart has a concussion and would be placed on the seven-day injured list, but the manager did not know who would be called up in a corresponding move.
Zimmermann made it into the sixth inning for the first time this month thanks to an improved slider. He also benefited from a change of position on the rubber to help improve the location of his pitches.
Zimmermann nearly gave away his lead when David Fletcher doubled off the wall in center to score Matt Thaiss and cut the deficit to 3-2.
Left-hander Blaine Hardy replaced Zimmermann and threw a wild pitch while walking Shohei Ohtani to load the bases.
However, Hardy was able to stave off further damage by striking out Justin Upton and Calhoun to keep Zimmermann in contention for the win.
The Tigers added three runs in the eighth, including a two-run single by Cabrera, and another run in the ninth to snap a six-game losing streak.
In other results, it was:
‧ Nationals 6, Braves 3
‧ Rockies 9, Dodgers 1
‧ Reds 11, Pirates 6
‧ Marlins 11, Diamondbacks 6
‧ Blue Jays 7, Royals 3
‧ Padres 8, Orioles 1
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