ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Seth McClung won the matchup between promising young starters.
McClung allowed one run in seven innings and Aubrey Huff homered off Jeremy Bonderman as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat the Detroit Tigers 3-1 Saturday night.
The 22-year old McClung (3-1) gave up five hits, struck out nine and walked two in his third career start and 10th appearance overall.
"That was an outstanding effort," Tampa Bay manager Lou Piniella said. "He power pitched. He had a good breaking ball and used just enough changeups to keep them off stride."
McClung was coming off a start April 30 where he gave up six runs and six hits in 1 1/3 innings of an 8-5 loss at Minnesota.
"I did the same thing I did tonight the start in Minnesota," McClung said. "Just the results were different."
Huff put the Devil Rays up 1-0 with his ninth homer in the first inning. It was his seventh shot in a span of 49 at-bats.
Bonderman (2-5) gave up three runs and eight hits over 6 2/3 innings. The rookie had two strikeouts and walked one.
"It was a very good performance," Tigers manager Alan Trammell said. "It very good for both these pitchers."
Bonderman, 20, allowed two runs over six innings in the Tigers' 7-3 win over Tampa Bay last Sunday.
"Detroit has some nice young pitching," Piniella said. "Bonderman pitched twice against us and has been very impressive both times.
Al Levine and Lance Carter completed a seven-hitter, with Carter pitching the ninth for his seventh save.
Eric Munson had a solo homer for the Tigers, who have the majors' worst record at 7-27. Detroit had gone 15 innings without a run since scoring three runs in the ninth at Baltimore on Wednesday.
The Tigers had just two hits in Friday night's 2-0 loss to Tampa Bay. It was the major league-leading eighth time Detroit was shutout this season.
Detroit is hitting a major league low .204 as a team. The AL average through Friday was .264.
McClung threw 71 of 112 pitches for strikes. He struck out the side in the sixth.
"We feel he's going to be a fine starter," Piniella said. "A big strong kid that throws the ball. Once we get him stretched out there's no reason why this young man can't throw 125 or 30 pitches at times."
His nine strikeouts is the second most by a Tampa Bay rookie. Dan Wheeler struck out 12 against Oakland on Sept. 12, 1999.
Javier Valentin hit an RBI double to put Tampa Bay ahead 2-0 in the fourth.
Munson got the Tigers within 2-1 on his third homer in the seventh.
"Everybody's working hard everyday and we're going to put things together," Bonderman said. "It will be fun once we hit on all cylinders. These guys are out here working hard and that's all anyone can ask."
Carl Crawford's run-scoring double in the bottom of the inning gave Tampa Bay a 3-1 lead. It was just his third RBI in 24 games.
Detroit's Bobby Higginson was ejected by plate umpire Phil Cuzzi for arguing a third strike in the sixth inning.
He started toward first base after a 3-2 pitch from McClung. After Cuzzi called the pitch a strike, Higginson walked slowly in front of the umpire as he headed toward the dugout and was then thrown out of the game shortly after he started talking to Cuzzi.
"Right when I got there he said 'Don't stand in front of me like that,"' Higginson said. "I said, 'I'm going to stand here in front of you and I'm going to tell you what I'm going to say.' I said I thought it was outside. I know the strike zone well and it wasn't a strike."
Notes: The Devil Rays have won six straight at home against Detroit. ... Tampa Bay rookie CF Rocco Baldelli was rested. He has hit safely in 30 of his 34 starts and is hitting .359. ... Detroit 1B Carlos Pena snapped an 0-for-11 slide with a second-inning infield single. ... Valentin, who was the catcher for Friday's 2-0 win over the Tigers, started for the second straight game in place of starter Toby Hall. "I like the results," Piniella said. ... Munson has four extra base hits in his last 24 games.
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