Mike Maroth is making the most of a new year.
Maroth won again, pitching eight sharp innings and leading the Tigers over the Oakland Athletics 3-1 Thursday in Detroit.
Maroth (4-1) was 9-21 last season and did not post his fourth victory until July 5.
"We've come a long way," Maroth said. "I think I've done a good job of learning how to pitch."
Maroth ended the Athletics' season-high three-game winning streak, allowing one run and five hits. He walked one and struck out four.
In his last outing, Maroth blew a 10-run lead in a 16-15 loss to Texas.
"I think Mike has handled himself extremely well, and I've said that many times," Tigers manager Alan Trammell said. "This is just another example of that. I know he was disappointed after Saturday — we all were — but he rebounded very nicely."
Even the pitcher Maroth outdueled praised him.
"It's great to see Mike doing this," said former Tiger Mark Redman. "His season last year was like my season here in 2002, and things got better for both of us. I'm glad to see he kept his head up and kept battling."
Ugueth Urbina pitched a perfect ninth for his fifth save in as many tries. The Tigers stopped Oakland's streak of 14 straight games with a home run.
Ivan Rodriguez homered and Carlos Guillen had three hits and scored twice for the Tigers. Detroit won despite getting four runners thrown out on the bases, three on steal attempts.
Redman (2-2) pitched a complete game, giving up 12 hits in his first start against his former team.
"It's hard to believe I only threw about 100 pitches when I gave up 12 hits, but that's what the Tigers are like," he said. "You know they are going to be aggressive. They got every bloop and every bounce, but I was happy that I was able to shake it off and continue to pitch well."
The game lasted only two hours, four minutes, a day after the teams played in 2:26. At a combined 4:30, that was less time than the series opener took — Tuesday's 15-inning game between the Tigers and Athletics went 4:38.
The Tigers took a 2-0 lead in the first when Guillen tripled with one out and scored on a homer by Rodriguez, who caught Redman last year with Florida.
"After Pudge got me, I reminded myself that, after last season, he knows what I like to throw in just about every situation," Redman said. "So I tried to mix things up after that, and I had better luck against him."
The next two batters singled, but Redman escaped the inning without further trouble.
Detroit made it 3-0 in the third when Guillen singled and scored on Rondell White's triple off the right-center field scoreboard.
Oakland scored in the fifth when Damian Miller doubled and came home on Marco Scutaro's double, but never got another runner into scoring position.
"Maroth just did a great job against us," Oakland manager Ken Macha said. "He was exceptional with his changeup and he had us beating the ball into the ground. He's going to pitch against us again in less than a week, so hopefully we learned some lessons."
YANKEES 7, ANGELS 4: At New York, Jon Lieber retired his first 11 batters, then gave up four straight hits before getting 11 more outs in a row. Ruben Sierra, Hideki Matsui and Bernie Williams hit solo homers off John Lackey (3-4), with Williams getting his first three-hit game of the season.
ORIOLES 1, WHITE SOX 0: At Chicago, Daniel Cabrera made a strong major league debut, allowing two hits in six innings to lead in the opener of a doubleheader. The 6-foot-7 Cabrera, called up from Double-A two days ago, gave up just two hits. He walked three and struck out three in his 91-pitch outing.
WHITE SOX 6, ORIOLES 5: In Game 2, Paul Konerko hit a go-ahead three-run homer and had five RBIs.
TWINS 1, MARINERS 0: At Minneapolis, Johan Santana allowed six hits over seven innings, and Minnesota completed its first home sweep of Seattle in 12 years. Michael Cuddyer hit an RBI double in the second inning, and Santana (2-0) got some help from center fielder Torii Hunter to preserve the shutout. With two outs in the seventh inning and Scott Spiezio on second, Santana gave up a single to pinch-hitter Dan Wilson. Hunter's perfect throw just beat a sliding Spiezio.
DEVIL RAYS 6, RANGERS 3: At St. Petersburg, Fla., Carl Crawford snapped a sixth-inning tie with an RBI single and had three hits, and Tampa Bay ended its season-high seven-game losing streak. Mark Hendrickson (2-3) allowed three runs and seven hits in six-plus innings as the Devil Rays won for just the third time in 17 games.
BLUE JAYS 12, RED SOX 6: At Toronto, Orlando Hudson tied a franchise record with five runs scored, and Miguel Batista earned his first win with his new team as Toronto beat Curt Schilling and Boston. The Blue Jays have won six straight at SkyDome after starting the season 1-9 at home.