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Detroit Tigers observations: Offense comes to life to beat Mets

QUEENS, N.Y. — The Tigers’ losing streak is over. In the first game of a nine-game road trip, the Tigers broke out their bats and won a beer league softball game against the New York Mets, 9-8 . The win snaps a nine-game losing streak. The Tigers (19-29) jumped all over Mets right-hander Noah Syndergaard quickly Friday night, scoring four runs in the first two innings, but most importantly, kept up the pressure. They lost the lead, tied the game, lost it again, but went ahead for good with three runs in the top of the seventh inning. In the seventh, JaCoby Jones hit a two-run double and John Hicks drove in what turned out to be the winning run. Jones had a career day: He also hit a two-run home run off Syndergaard in the top of the second and recorded four RBIs, a career-high. In the win, the Tigers turned in one of their more complete offensive performances of the year, totaling 14 hits. Two of those hits came from rookie lefty Gregory Soto, who started off strong but wilted in the fourth inning, coughing up the lead on a three-run home run to Adeiny Hechavarria. It was a back-and-forth game with the ball flying out of Citi Field: The Tigers hit two home runs – Miguel Cabrera hit his second of the year, and the Mets (24-26) totaled five homers – but unlike the previous two losses, the Tigers were able to record the necessary late-inning outs to win. Joe Jimenez allowed a solo home run in the eighth and, one day after blowing his first save of the season , closer Shane Greene picked up his 16th save in the ninth. Here are three observations: It wasn’t just the eight runs on 14 hits, but the consistency in which the Tigers scored. They hit well but also drove in runs on two sacrifice flies – Christin Stewart and Cabrera – and took advantage of scoring opportunities, going 5-for-10 with runners in scoring position. After slumping much of May, Jones is showing some progress in his plate approaches. He nearly hit a second home run in the ninth. Four Tigers – including Soto – recorded multiple hits. They won the game because they were able to respond to the Mets’ responses in the middle innings. Both Zac Reininger and Buck Farmer coughed up leads on solo home runs, but the biggest inning of relief came in the seventh, when Victor Alcantara teetered on the edge of trouble. Alcantara put the leadoff man on base in the seventh but induced a ground ball double paly and escaped the inning unscathed. Jimenez continues to be bitten by the gopher ball, but he preserved the lead. Making his third start, Soto took another stride in comfort, looking better than he did in the early innings than each of his previous two starts. He falls in trouble when falling behind in the count, as he did in the Mets’ four-run fourth inning, and was soon pulled. Soto allowed five runs on six hits in 3 2/3 innings, with one walk and four strikeouts. Offensively, he singled twice off Syndergaard , marking the first Tiger pitcher with multiple hits since Justin Verlander in 2014. Contact Anthony Fenech at afenech@freepress.com . Follow him on Twitter @anthonyfenech . Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter .