LAKELAND, Fla. -- Justin Upton's first hit as a Tiger plated a run, and Ian Kinsler continued his torrid start to Spring Training with four RBIs, sending Detroit to a 9-2 win over Miami on Sunday at Joker Marchant Stadium.
Upton, signed as a free agent in mid-January, had been hitless in seven spring at-bats with six strikeouts, as he tried to find his timing at the plate. After taking a called third strike in the first inning and walking in the second, he worked his way to a three-ball count in the fourth with Jose Iglesias on third base. Upton sent a ground ball through the right side to extend the lead to 5-2.
Until then, Kinsler had been responsible for the Tigers' offense, including his second bases-clearing double in four days to capitalize on a wild outing for Marlins starter Dylan Axelrod. The former White Sox farmhand gave up one hit with three strikeouts over 1 2/3 innings, but he walked three, including Anthony Gose with two outs in the second to extend the threat for Kinsler.
J.D. Martinez added his first home run of the spring, an opposite-field solo shot in the fifth. ProspectSteven Moya blasted a two-run dinger in the seventh.
Tigers starter Matt Boyd tossed three scoreless innings on two singles along with a strikeout in his second start of the spring. The fifth-starter candidate got better results out of a slider he has been tinkering with since the offseason. Justin Bour led Miami's offense with two hits, doubling in a run in the fourth off Lendy Castillo before scoring on a Cole Gillespie single.
Up next for the Marlins: Right-hander Jose Fernandez, one of the best young pitchers in baseball before undergoing Tommy John surgery in May 2014, will make his first Grapefruit League start against the Nationals on Monday at Space Coast Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. The 23-year-old, who won the National League Rookie of the Year Award in 2013 while finishing third in the NL Cy Young balloting, returned to make 11 starts last season. Also scheduled to pitch for the Marlins in Viera, Fla., are Edwin Jackson, Kyler Barraclough, Nick Wittgren, Brian Ellington and Nefi Ogando.
Up next for the Tigers: A decade after his first Spring Training with the Mets, Mike Pelfrey returns to Port St. Lucie, Fla., for his second Grapefruit League start as a Tiger, hoping to follow up on three perfect innings last Wednesday against the Yankees. Nick Castellanos, James McCann and Gose are scheduled to join him on the trip in a 1:10 p.m. ET matchup from Tradition Field. Follow the game on MLB Network or MLB.TV.