ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) – Jhoulys Chacin threw a four-hitter to win a scintillating duel with Justin Verlander, and Cliff Pennington’s tiebreaking RBI single in the Angels’ five-run eighth inning propelled Los Angeles to a 5-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Monday night.
Chacin (1-1) and Verlander (4-5) combined to retire the first 27 batters at Angel Stadium before C.J. Cron’s single leading off the fifth for Los Angeles. Chacin lost his own perfect game bid on Andrew Romine’s two-out single in the sixth.
The pitchers traded zeros until the Angels led off the eighth with three straight singles against Verlander, who gave up one hit in the first seven innings of Detroit’s fourth loss in five games.
Chacin threw his third career complete game in his fourth start for Los Angeles.
Facing Detroit for the first time, the veteran right-hander struck out 10 and threw his first complete game since 2011. He fell one out shy of the second shutout of his career when J.D. Martinez doubled and scored on Victor Martinez’s long fly in the ninth.