Tigers back in the win column, blank Marlins in opener

Tigers catcher Dillon Dingler (13) celebrates in the dugout after scoring a run against the Marlins in the first inning at Comerica Park.

Detroit — Behind a sterling start from Keider Montero and just enough offense, the Tigers got back in the win column on Friday in a return to Comerica Park, besting the Miami Marlins, 2-0.

Montero, filling in for an injured Justin Verlander, controlled the game from the mound from the get go and finished with a scoreless six innings, striking out seven and walking one batter on two hits.

The win snaps a five-game losing streak for Detroit, which entered Friday after getting swept in four games by Minnesota.

Montero’s biggest moment of peril came almost immediately, as he navigated his way around a one-out triple in the top of the first inning. The first out following that triple came via a called strike three on the bottom rail of the zone that stood after being challenged via ABS.

Montero got one other looking strikeout on Friday, freezing Owen Caissie in the top of the fifth, setting him up and freezing him on a 3-2 fastball that was comfortably in the zone.

The starter gave way to Brant Hurter for the seventh inning, and the lefty retired the Marlins in order, as did Kyle Finnegan in the top of the eighth inning. Kenley Jansen came on for the ninth inning and got the save.

On offense, facing a familiar arm in Chris Paddack — who pitched for Detroit during the second half of last season — the Tigers produced some offensive pressure in the second inning, stringing together a series of singles.

First Dillon Dingler got aboard, then went from first to third by making a good read on a single by Kerry Carpenter, the following batter. That set the table for Spencer Torkelson with no outs and runners on the corners.

He quickly got a pitch he could handle and roped a single into left field over the reach of shortstop Otto Lopez for a 1-0 lead.

The Tigers kept the pressure on Paddack, with rookie Kevin McGonigle working from two strikes to a walk to load the bases and get the Marlins starter over 40 pitches. Detroit couldn’t really make Paddack pay, though, as Gleyber Torres lined out to right field on a sliding catch by Owen Caissie.

Offense, generally, was hard to come by for both teams, with Montero dealing and Paddack settling in after his second-inning hiccup.

Detroit only added a second run by virtue of Javy Báez putting a clean swing on a 2-2 sweeper that Paddack tried to leave low and away, hopefully getting a chase and miss.

Instead, the pitch caught a little bit too much of the zone and Báez managed to reach down and get around it, smashing a home run into the Tiger bullpen to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning.

And going up 2-0 proved to be enough of a margin on a night where Montero shone for six innings and the bullpen had his back.

This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Detroit Tigers blanked Miami Marlins to end 5-game skid