Tigers can’t reward Anibal, fall to Mets on late HR

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DETROIT — A Tigers-Mets series that began with a much-hyped pitching duel ended with an unexpected one. Anibal Sanchez and Jacob deGrom battled well into Sunday’s series finale before Neil Walker hit a tiebreaking two-run homer off former Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez in the ninth inning, helping New York avoid a series sweep at Comerica Park with a 3-1 win.

Two days after Justin Verlander and Noah Syndergaard battled in the series opener, Sanchez kept pace with deGrom by throwing eight innings of one-run ball with 10 strikeouts. Michael Conforto’s seventh-inning solo homer put the Mets in front before Ian Kinsler’s pinch-hit RBI infield single tied it in the bottom of the frame.

Rodriguez (1-2), making his fourth appearance in five days, hit Alejandro De Aza with an 0-2 pitch to lead off the ninth, then paid for back-to-back fastballs, the second of which Walker drove over the right-center-field wall for his 19th home run of the season.

Addison Reed (3-2) gave up a J.D. Martinez double and a Casey McGehee single with two outs in the eighth but escaped with a rundown between third and home to …

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