The Baltimore Orioles opened their American League playoff series against Detroit with a bang on Thursday, erupting for eight runs in the eighth inning to beat the Tigers 12-3.
Nelson Cruz set the tone for the American League East division winners Baltimore with a two-run home run in the first inning.
The victory gives the Orioles a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five division series.
Things were closer across the country in Anaheim, California, where Mike Moustakas' first home run in more than a month lifted the Kansas City Royals to a 3-2 victory over the Angels in 11 innings in game one of the other AL division series.
Moustakas greeted Angels relief pitcher Fernando Salas with a leadoff homer in the 11th to deliver the Royals victory over the AL West division champion Angels.
Moustakas got just enough of the pitch from Salas, his blast barely clearing the right-field wall.
Royals reliever Greg Holland then retired the side in order in the bottom of the 11th to give the Royals a 1-0 series lead going into game two on Friday.
"Moose hit 15 homers on the year," said Royals manager Ned Yost, "but none was bigger than that one, for sure."
Kansas City's superb defence kept the game close as they found hits hard to come by in the later innings.
Japanese outfielder Nori Aoki contributed a couple of outstanding plays, including a catch at the right-field wall that denied Angels second baseman Howie Kendrick a potential extra base hit in the sixth.
In Baltimore, Cruz - who led the major leagues with 40 home runs in the regular season - produced a run-batted-in single along with his early homer off Detroit starting pitcher Max Scherzer.
JJ Hardy delivered a solo homer and Alejandro De Aza and Jonathan Schoop both went 2-for-4 at the plate with two RBI for the Orioles.
Nick Markakis also had a brace of hits, singling in a run, and Chris Tillman out-pitched Scherzer in his post-season debut.
Tillman gave up back-to-back solo homers to Victor Martinez and JD Martinez in the second inning. But he allowed just two other hits while striking out six over five innings.
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