BALTIMORE -- Nelson Cruz and the Baltimore Orioles had the good fortune of avoiding Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer during the regular season. Chris Summers Jersey . Or maybe it was the other way around. In his 2014 debut against the hard-hitting Orioles, Scherzer found out quickly that a poor pitch can go a long way -- in the other direction. Cruz and J.J. Hardy homered, and Baltimore hammered out 12 hits in defeating Scherzer and the Detroit Tigers 12-3 Thursday in the opener of their AL Division Series. I just left too many pitches up, Scherzer said. This is a great-hitting ballclub. You give them a chance to extend their arms, they can really hit it. Jonathan Schoop and Alejandro De Aza each had two hits and two RBIs for the Orioles, who turned a close game into a rout with an eight-run eighth inning against Scherzer and three ineffective relievers. The 12 runs set a post-season record for Baltimore, making its second playoff appearance since 1997. Game 2 of the best-of-five series is Friday at Camden Yards. Justin Verlander, the second of three straight Cy Young winners the Orioles will face, is set to go against left-hander Wei-Yin Chen. Verlander must avoid the mistakes made by Scherzer, who allowed five runs and seven hits in 7 1-3 innings. The right-hander was 18-5 during the regular season, but in this one he was burned by the long ball and outpitched by the Orioles. Ive got to find a way to get the ball down, Scherzer said. I wasnt quite able to do that tonight, and I paid for it. Cruz led the majors with 40 homers during the regular season, a good portion of Baltimores big league-best 211 long balls. His first-inning drive off Scherzer put the Orioles up 2-0 before Detroits Victor Martinez and J.D. Martinez connected off Chris Tillman in the second to tie it. But Baltimore had too much firepower for the Tigers. Hardy led off the seventh by driving a poorly thrown changeup from Scherzer over the centre-field wall for a 4-2 lead. The one that stings is that J.J. Hardy home run, Scherzer said. That home run really changed the game in my eyes, gave them that insurance run. Cruz added his third RBI with a single during a wild eighth inning keyed by a Detroit error that kept the boisterous, orange-clad crowd of 47,842 on its feet. Five different Orioles finished with two hits. Clearly, facing Scherzer was not too daunting a task. Its the same game, De Aza said. Yes, this is a good pitcher, but its the same game. You have to throw the ball to home plate for a strike to get us out. Tillman (1-0) allowed two runs in five innings before Andrew Miller got five outs -- three by strikeout. Darren ODay gave up an eighth-inning homer to Miguel Cabrera, but the drive followed a double play. Orioles manager Buck Showalter then called upon closer Zach Britton, who had 37 saves during the regular season. Britton got the last out in the eighth, and by the time the ninth inning rolled around, he wasnt needed anymore. Miller had a 1.35 ERA in 23 games with Baltimore, ODay finished at 1.70 and Britton closed at 1.65. Thats one big reason why the AL East-champion Orioles were 80-4 when leading after eight innings. Meanwhile, Detroits revamped bullpen looked shaky -- although it was shortstop Andrew Romines error that got the big eighth inning going. I cant remember the last time he made an error at shortstop, Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. This was an unfortunate one, but it doesnt change my mind on him as a shortstop. Although he had a 5.56 ERA in the first inning during the regular season, Tillman began his initial foray into the playoffs in impressive fashion by striking out the side on 14 pitches. Cruz hit an opposite-field drive to right in the bottom half after Nick Markakis hit a leadoff single. It was his 15th career post-season home run, tied with Babe Ruth for 10th place on the career list. Its just I like to enjoy this moment, you know, Cruz said. I think as a player, you want to be in the situation. And, you know, its no reason. The rollicking, towel-waving fans had barely settled down when Victor Martinez led off the second with a towering shot over the right-field wall. Four pitches later, J.D. Martinez hit a tying homer in his first post-season at-bat. Nick Markakis answered with an RBI single in the Baltimore half. At that point, six of 10 batters reached safely against Scherzer. After yielding the back-to-back homers, Tillman retired the next 11 batters before Romine singled with two outs in the fifth. Another single and a walk loaded the bases for Torii Hunter, who hit into a fielders choice on Tillmans 105th and final pitch. Afterward, Showalter saluted the crowd for their enthusiasm. If you dont get that, youre too cold for his game, he said. I wish I would have had a towel. TRAINERS ROOM Tigers: CF Rajai Davis (pelvic strain) was cleared to play after passing a series of drills early in the day before rosters were finalized. Davis started and batted ninth. UP NEXT Tigers: Verlander (15-12, 4.54 ERA) makes his 16th post-season start following what Ausmus called a down season overall for the 2011 Cy Young Award winner. Orioles: Chen (16-6, 3.54) seeks his first win since Sept. 15 after losing his final two starts in the regular season. Ilya Lyubushkin Jersey . -- Top-ranked Stacy Lewis birdied the last three holes and five of the final six Thursday for an 8-under 64 and a share of the lead with Mi Jung Hur in the Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic. Peter Mueller Jersey . As TSN reported Thursday, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport is under intense pressure from the federal government to focus drug testing on athletes who compete in international events representing Canada. Since funding for the tests has been frozen and the cost of testing can eclipse $1,000 per test, university athletes in a number of sports are being tested less often. https://www.cheapcoyotes.com/738z-willy-lindstrom-jersey-coyotes.html . Peko, a fourth-round pick in 2006, started all 16 games and a playoff loss to San Diego last season. He was second on the line with 72 tackles and had a career-high three sacks.SAN DIEGO -- Arizona avoided becoming the latest and biggest upset victim in an NCAA tournament thats been filled with them. The Wildcats will have to play a little better if they want to keep going in the bracket. Nick Johnson scored 18 points, Aaron Gordon added 16 and top-seeded Arizona overcame a shaky start and a late run by Weber State to beat the Wildcats 68-59 in the West Regional on Friday. The first full day of the tournament was a wild one filled with upsets, and the bracket-busting trend continued early Friday, when Mercer, a No. 14 seed, knocked off mighty Duke. Arizona (31-4) appeared to be next in line, falling into an 8-point hole in the opening 6 minutes. Arizona closed in around Weber State (19-12), shutting down the Wildcats during two big first-half runs, seemingly putting the fairytale to bed. Comfortably ahead, Arizona let off the gas late, allowing Weber State to trim a 21-point lead down to nine before pulling it out. Solid, but not great, particularly since the next game -- against Gonzaga or Oklahoma State on Sunday -- is the spot the Wildcats have been picked to go down. Weber State put up a fight in its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2007, clearly not intimidated by Arizona and its cast of future NBA players. The Wildcats just didnt have the manpower to keep up with the long, athletic Cats during their big runs and nor did they have enough left climb all the way back after clawing back in the second half. Davion Berry scored 24 points and Richaud Gittens added 12 for Weber State. Arizona had been in this spot before, faciing a quick-trigger 3-point shooting team in the opening round. Anders Hedberg Jersey. A year ago, Belmont was a popular bracket buster pick against the Wildcats because of its ability to shoot the 3, but Arizona turned the slight into motivation and ran over the Bruins. Even after an opening day of upsets in the bracket, there were no calls for an upset against Arizona this year. But just as Mercer was busy taking down Duke, Weber State gave the 16-over-a-1-seed miracle a glimpse of life, holding Arizona without a field for nearly 5 minutes during a game-opening 10-2 run. The dream popped with a flurry of blocked shots, steals and runouts the other direction. After falling into the early hole, one of the nations best defences flexed its muscles against the Big Sky-champion Wildcats, jumping into passing lanes, swatting shots, turning nearly every possession into a fight against the shot clock. Weber State missed 12 of 13 shots as Arizona went on two big runs and shot 6 of 24 in the first half with nine turnovers that Arizona turned into 12 points. The desert Wildcats shook off their early offensive funk with an array of dunks and 3-pointers, racing past Weber State with runs of 14-2 and 13-3 to go up 32-20 at halftime. Arizona looked as if it was going to run away with it early in the second half, only to watch Weber State scratch a huge lead to under double digits with 4 1-2 minutes left. Arizona turned back every attempt Weber State made after that to pull out the victory, but will likely face more upset predictions in the next round after this one. ' ' '