Kenta Maeda and Justin Verlander had dueling perfect games through four innings, with the latter losing his on a Yasiel Puig walk in the fifth inning. Verlander managed to preserve his no-hitter, until Curtis Granderson hit a home run off the foul pole in right field with two outs in the sixth.
Maeda’s five perfect innings were ultimately undone by a five-hit sixth. He lost the bid for history on John Hicks’ leadoff single in the bottom half of the sixth and his outing spiraled from there.
Andrew Romine, the Tigers’ No. 8 hitter, doubled to put the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position with nobody out. Dixon Machado’s two-run double, a third straight hit in the inning, gave the Tigers a 2-1 lead.
Maeda nearly managed to limit the damage but he surrendered a two-run homer to Justin Upton with two outs. Maeda’s afternoon came to an end after five runs allowed in six innings, and seven strikeouts against zero walks.
Maeda’s loss was his first since July 2, and it was the first for any Dodgers starter dating back to July 21.
Miscommunication between Kiké Hernandez and Yasiel Puig led to them nearly colliding and played a role in Miguel Cabrera’s drive to the right-center field gap dropping for a two-run double off Tony Cingrani in the eighth.
Even after allowing a then go-ahead home run to his former teammate, Verlander continued to mow his way through the game. The Dodgers’ next baserunner didn’t come until two outs in the eighth inning on Austin Barnes’ line-drive single into right field.
Verlander went eight innings, with just the one run and two hits allowed, one walk and nine strikeouts. Daniel Stumpf worked around a one-out single in the ninth to finish out the Tigers’ 6-1 win.
The loss snapped the Dodgers’ 13-game winning streak in Interleague play. They finished 16-4 against the American League this season and despite the loss, clinched their best Interleague record in team history.
What’s more, the loss snapped the Dodgers’ overall six-game winning streak and prevented them from securing a 17th series sweep this season.
