DETROIT (AP) — Trevor Bauer made short work of the Detroit Tigers, throwing a two-hit shutout in Cincinnati’s 4-0 victory Sunday that gave the Reds a sweep of Major League Baseball’s first seven-inning doubleheader.
Shogo Akiyama hit an RBI single in the top of the seventh that sent the Reds to a 4-3 win in the opener.
MLB recently decided to use doubleheaders of seven-inning games, which have been commonplace in the minor leagues and colleges, to help teams alleviate an expected crush of twinbills caused by weather and coronavirus-related postponements. The Reds-Tigers game was rained out Saturday.
Bauer was furious Saturday with the late decision to delay that game — but the postponement meant he only had to throw seven innings for his shutout Sunday. He finished with 111 pitches.
Matt Davidson had an RBI single in the first inning and Aristides Aquino added another in the second against Detroit starter Daniel Norris (0-1). Christian Colon added a two-run single in the seventh to give Bauer a four-run cushion.
At one point in the first game, Cincinnati starter Anthony DeSclafani forgot the teams were only playing seven innings.
“When the Tigers scored those three runs to tie the game in the sixth, I was thinking we still had three innings left to win the game,” DeSclafani said. “I forgot we were only playing seven. I don’t even remember the last time I played a seven-inning game.”
Nick Castellanos homered twice and drove in three runs for Cincinnati in the opener against his former team. But his three-base error in right field with the bases loaded in the sixth allowed Detroit to tie the game.
Reliever Tyler Alexander had kept the Tigers in it by striking out the first nine batters he faced, tying the American League record for consecutive strikeouts. His streak ended in the top of the sixth, one short of Tom Seaver’s major league record, when he hit Mike Moustakas with a 1-2 pitch. Moustakas left the game with a forearm injury.
The start of the first game was delayed more than two hours because of rain. Then the game took 2 hours, 25 minutes. The second game went 2:36.
The scoreboard at Comerica Park was still set to display a nine-inning game.
With the score tied and the new doubleheader rules in place, Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire brought in closer Joe Jimenez (0-1) to start the seventh inning of the opener.
Freddy Galvis led off with a double, took third on Tucker Barnhart’s single and scored on Akiyama’s bouncer through the drawn-in infield.
Raisel Iglesias (1-1) got the final out of the sixth before pitching a scoreless seventh. The Reds still don’t have a save this season, and their bullpen couldn’t hold on after DeSclafani left them a 3-0 lead.
Lucas Sims started the sixth and the Tigers loaded the bases with two out on a single, a walk and a hit batter. Victor Reyes lifted a fly ball to right-center.
Castellanos called off center fielder Nick Senzel, but the ball bounced off the tip of his glove and all three runners scored.
The Reds took a quick 2-0 lead. Rony Garcia walked Akiyama to start the game, and Castellanos homered into the Cincinnati bullpen.
Castellanos homered again in the third inning. It was his second two-homer game at Comerica Park, the other coming on Aug. 22, 2017. Castellanos played his first 837 games with the Tigers before being traded to the Chicago Cubs last season.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Reds: Cincinnati activated DeSclafani (shoulder) from the 10-day injured list before the game and placed 1B Joey Votto on the short-term injured list.
UP NEXT
Reds: The Reds return home for two games against the Cleveland Indians in the first half of a four-game home-and-home series. Sonny Gray (2-0) is scheduled to face Zach Plesac (0-0) on Monday.
Tigers: Detroit has Monday off, then is scheduled to host four games in three days against the St. Louis Cardinals. Matthew Boyd (0-1) will pitch for the Tigers on Tuesday, while the Cardinals haven’t announced their pitcher.

Reds’ boxscore
SUNDAY’S FIRST GAME
Reds 4, Tigers 3
Cincinnati Detroit
ab r h bi ab r h bi
Akiyama lf 3 1 1 1 Goodrum ss 4 0 0 0
Castellanos rf 4 2 2 3 Schoop 2b 3 0 0 0
Moustakas 2b 2 0 0 0 Cabrera dh 3 0 1 0
Jankowski pr 0 0 0 0 Lugo dh 0 1 0 0
Farmer 2b 1 0 0 0 Cron 1b 2 1 0 0
Suarez 3b 3 0 0 0 Stewart lf 2 0 1 0
Winker dh 2 0 0 0 Demeritte rf 0 1 0 0
Davidson ph 0 0 0 0 Reyes rf-lf 3 0 0 0
Aquino dh 0 0 0 0 Candelario 3b 3 0 2 0
Senzel cf 3 0 1 0 Romine c 3 0 0 0
VanMeter 1b 3 0 0 0 Jones cf 3 0 0 0
Galvis ss 2 1 1 0
Barnhart c 3 0 2 0
Totals 26 4 7 4 Totals 26 3 4 0

Cincinnati 201 000 1 — 4
Detroit 000 003 0 — 3

E–Castellanos (1). 2B-Galvis (2). 3B-Candelario. HR-Castellanos 2 (4). CS–Davidson. LOB–Cincinnati 5, Detroit 4.

IP H R ER BB SO
Cincinnati
DeSclafani 5.0 3 0 0 0 2
Sims, BS1 0.2 1 3 0 1 1
R.Iglesias, W,1-1 1.1 0 0 0 0 2
Detroit
Garcia 2.0 3 3 3 2 2
Alexander 3.2 0 0 0 1 10
Fulmer 0.1 1 0 0 0 1
Jimenez, L,0-1 1.0 3 1 1 0 0
WP–Fulmer. HBP–Moustakas (by Alexander), Stewart (by Sims).
Umpires–Home, Lance Barksdale; First, Chris Conroy; Second, Dave Rackley; Third, Larry Vanover. T–3:01.

SUNDAY’S SECOND GAME
Reds 4, Tigers 0
Cincinnati Detroit
ab r h bi ab r h bi
Ervin lf 4 0 0 0 Reyes cf 3 0 0 0
Castellanos rf 3 0 1 0 H.Castro ss 2 0 1 0
Suárez 3b 4 1 1 0 Cabrera dh 2 0 0 0
Davidson 1b 4 0 1 1 Schoop 2b 3 0 0 0
Casali c 3 1 1 0 Stewart lf 3 0 0 0
Senzel cf 4 1 2 0 Mercer 1b 2 0 1 0
Colón 2b 4 1 2 2 Goodrum ph 1 0 0 0
Aquino dh 1 0 1 1 Demeritte rf 2 0 0 0
Winker dh 1 0 0 0 Candelario ph 1 0 0 0
Jankowski dh 1 0 0 0 Greiner c 2 0 0 0
K.Farmer ss 3 0 2 0 Lugo 3b 2 0 0 0
Totals 32 4 11 4 Totals 23 0 2 0

Cincinnati 110 000 2 — 4
Detroit 000 000 0 — 0

LOB–Cincinnati 11, Detroit 4. 2B–Suárez (2), Colón (1), Senzel 2 (4), Casali (1). SB–Colón (1), Aquino (1).

IP H R ER BB SO
Cincinnati
Bauer W,1-0 7 2 0 0 2 7
Detroit
Norris L,0-1 1 2-3 4 2 2 2 0
Schreiber 1 1-3 1 0 0 0 1
Cisnero 2 3 0 0 0 2
Soto 1 1 0 0 1 0
Garcia 1 2 2 2 0 0
HBP–Garcia (Casali). WP_Bauer.
Umpires–Home, Lance Barksdale; First, Chris Conroy; Second, Dave Rackley; Third, John Bacon.
T–2:36.