If Justin Verlander really wants a wild-card spot into next month's Home Run Derby, he's going to have to fight off his own teammates.
The Detroit Tigers homered four times in the fourth inning of Saturday's game in Baltimore, including a set of back-to-back-to-back homers, followed by a grand slam.
Victor Martinez started the inning with a line drive over the right-field fence off Orioles starter Jason Hammel. Jhonny Peralta and Alex Avila followed with homers to left to give Detroit a 4-1 lead. It was the first time the Tigers had hit back-to-back-to-back homers since June 24, 2001.
Avila's homer came as the catcher is trying to break out of a slump that had left him on the verge of being sent to Triple-A Toledo.
"That felt good," Avila told FOX Sports Detroit's Ryan Field. "I had the homer and a couple other hard-hit balls that the second baseman took away from me. Hopefully, I'll get a couple broken-bat hits to make up for those."
Hammel's next pitch hit Detroit's Matt Tuiasosopo in the left shoulder — just missing his head — and he was immediately ejected by home-plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt.
Tigers manager Jim Leyland didn't think Hammel intentionally hit Tuiasosopo.
"I don't think that at all — it looked like a curveball to me," he said. "In defense of Hunter, though, he doesn't know if it is a curveball. He just sees the ball up at the batter's ear."
Tuiasosopo, who went to the plate hoping for a fourth straight homer, wasn't as sure.
"It didn't look good — we hit three straight and the next pitch is right at my head," he said. "It wasn't a fastball, and I know they will say it was a curveball, but all I know was the pitch was coming right at my head. That's not cool."
Avisail Garcia greeted T.J. McFarland with a single, and Omar Infante doubled to give the Tigers a 5-1 advantage.
McFarland walked, meaning he had to face baseball's hottest hitter with the bases loaded and no one out. On a 3-2 pitch, Miguel Cabrera launched a fastball deep into the left-field stands for his 17th homer of the season. Cabrera is now hitting .369 with 65 RBIs on June 1 — well ahead of his Triple Crown pace of last season. Cabrera is also on pace to challenge Hack Wilson's major-league record of 191 RBI.
The grand slam was the fourth of Cabrera's career, and gave the Tigers four homers in an inning for the first time since Sept. 10, 1986. Those four were hit by Chet Lemon, Kirk Gibson, Darnell Coles and an inside-the-parker by Mike Heath.
"This place plays pretty small," Leyland said. "That was just one of those freak things that happens here — any fly ball can turn into a home run."
As for Verlander, he probably didn't mind the competition for the Home Run Derby spot. He was Detroit's starter on Saturday, and got to take the mound for the bottom of the fourth with a 9-1 lead. He cruised through seven innings, and Prince Fielder joined the party with a sixth-inning homer to give the Tigers a 10-3 win.
