Tigers Blank Mariners

Juan Gonzalez proved Thursday night what he's been saying all week: that he's ready to play.

Gonzalez, making his first home start for Detroit, hit an RBI double to break up a scoreless tie in the eighth inning as the Tigers held off the Seattle Mariners 2-0.

"It's exciting because we won," said Gonzalez, who went 2-for-4 as the designated hitter. "I drove in the winning run in my first game in Detroit."

Gonzalez hadn't started since the season opener last week in Oakland because of a right hamstring strain. Tigers manager Phil Garner was trying to rest him for a weekend series with Tampa Bay, when better weather is expected.

"When he came in today, I knew he was going to play," Garner said. "He came in 'thumbs-up' and said 'I'm ready."'

"He's got both kinds of power," Garner said. "There's two kinds of power, home run power and gap power. Gap power is when you can score the run from first base."

Mariners manager Lou Piniella said Mesa got a pitch up.

"I told him we wanted to keep the ball low because with the height of the (infield) grass a ground ball would surely be a double play," Piniella said. "But he got the ball up and you saw the result, a well-hit ball to right-center."

Bobby Higginson followed with a ingle that moved pinch runner Karim Garcia to third, and Dean Palmer scored the second run with a sacrifice fly.

Hideo Nomo gave up four hits and four walks in six-plus innings. Doug Brocail (1-1) pitched one scoreless inning of relief before Todd Jones finished for his third save.

The Tigers took two of three games in the first series in Comerica Park.

Nomo played escape artist throughout his first Comerica Park start. He got out of several rough spots, the biggest a bases-loaded, none-out jam in the sixth.

"I've seen him do that before," Garner said. "He has a knack of getting out of jams."

Nomo's ERA after three starts is 1.28. But his only decision was an opening night win, and the Tigers have scored just one run for him since.

"I'm very happy that my team won, but I'm not happy with the way I pitched tonight," Nomo said. "We played good defense and Gonzalez got the big hit."

Gil Meche went 6 1-3 shutout innings and was never in nearly as much trouble as Nomo. Meche allowed six hits with six strikeouts and two walks.

"We just came up short tonight, but give the other guy credit," Meche said. "He pitched very well."

Both teams squandered several chances, going a combined 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position through seven innings.

Nomo gave up a leadoff double to David Bell in the fourth but struck out Alex Rodriguez and got John Olerud on a popup before Edgar Martinez grounded out.

Seattle loaded the bases with none out in the sixth. But Olerud flew out to short left and Higginson threw Mark McLemore out trying to score. After a wild pitch moved runners to second and third, second baseman Gregg Jefferies made a great play on Martinez's grounder behind the bag and just threw him ot at first.

Nomo exited after a leadoff walk in the seventh, and the Mariners went on to load the bases with two out before Danny Patterson got Bell on a grounder to short.

"We had a couple of chances to score but we chased a lot of bad pitches," Piniella said. "We got ourselves out by swinging at some pitches in the dirt and outside."

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