NEW YORK -- Miguel Cabrera and the hard-hitting Tigers were too much for Daisuke Matsuzaka in his return to the majors. Cabrera hit a three-run homer, Torii Hunter also connected and Detroit tagged Matsuzaka early in his Mets debut to beat New York 6-1 on Friday night. "When I used to catch him in Boston, he had a little more on it," Tigers slugger Victor Martinez said. "Today I think his ball was pretty straight. He left a few pitches up in the zone, and the big guys didnt miss." Hunter added a long RBI double and Doug Fister (11-6) pitched into the seventh inning to help Detroit win the interleague series opener. Austin Jackson went deep for the second straight day for the AL Central leaders, back in New York after dropping two of three at Yankee Stadium two weeks ago. The series resumes Saturday afternoon with a rematch of All-Star game starters at Citi Field: Max Scherzer puts his 18-1 record on the line against New York ace Matt Harvey in a nationally televised game. "You cant beat that matchup," Hunter said. "If you blink youre going to miss something." The Mets said its the first time All-Star game starters will square off in a regular-season game during the same season, according to research by the Elias Sports Bureau. "I figure this place will be hopping pretty good," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "It should be fun." Minus two injured starters, the Mets signed Matsuzaka on Thursday to fill a hole in the rotation and immediately handed him a difficult assignment. Led by Cabrera and Prince Fielder, the Tigers began the night leading the majors in batting average and second in runs. The right-hander from Japan, a former Red Sox star who had been pitching in Clevelands farm system, got off to a promising start. Working on three days rest and wearing No. 16, he threw a called third strike past Jackson and was ahead 0-2 on Hunter when the five-time All-Star sent a booming drive far beyond the left-field fence. Cabrera and Fielder followed with singles, but Dice-K prevented further damage. He wasnt as fortunate in the second. Omar Infante led off with an infield single and Jackson walked with two outs. Hunter hit a ground-rule double that bounced over the 408 sign in straightaway centre field to put the Tigers up 2-1. Cabrera crushed the next pitch, a 91 mph fastball that he sent soaring just inside the left-field foul pole for his 41st home run. "I was thinking about how I wanted to pitch him from before the game, but it was hard to figure it out until you face him," Matsuzaka said through a translator. "I dont think it was a bad pitch, but he hit a home run off it." Chasing his second consecutive AL Triple Crown, Cabrera has comfortable leads in batting average and RBIs. He moved within five home runs of Baltimore slugger Chris Davis. "Its just unbelievable," Fister said, then changed his tune. "Its no longer unbelievable. Its definitely believable, and hes doing it for a long time in a row now." Working with rookie Travis dArnaud, catching his fifth major league game, Matsuzaka settled in from there and did not allow another baserunner. He retired his final 10 batters and was charged with five runs on six hits over five innings. "I thought the last three innings he was very, very good," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "The arm issues have caused his velocity to go down a little bit. But I tell you what, his breaking stuff is still very good. I was happy with the way he finished up." Jackson added a solo shot in the seventh off reliever Carlos Torres, originally scheduled to start the game before the Mets signed Matsuzaka (0-1) for the remainder of this season. The Red Sox shelled out more than $100 million to import Matsuzaka in 2007. He won 33 games and a World Series ring during his first two years in the majors, but injuries and poor performances followed. He had Tommy John surgery on his pitching elbow in 2011. Matsuzaka went 1-7 with an 8.28 ERA in 11 starts for Boston last season and was beaten out by Scott Kazmir for the final spot in Clevelands rotation this spring. The 32-year-old pitcher agreed to go to Triple-A Columbus, where he was 5-8 with a 3.92 ERA in 19 starts. After working through early season injuries, Matsuzaka had been effective in recent weeks. He was granted his release by the Indians on Tuesday, and the third-place Mets decided he was their best option to fill a void the rest of the way. "I just kind of studied his old video and went off that," Hunter said. Fister gave up only an RBI single to Marlon Byrd in the first. The big right-hander induced two double plays and allowed eight hits in 6 1-3 innings before three relievers finished up. NOTES: Martinez, normally a DH, made his first start at catcher for Detroit since Aug. 4, 2011. "It felt great all-around," he said. ... The Tigers said C Alex Avila left his rehab game Thursday with Triple-A Toledo after three innings due to dizziness. Avila is on the disabled list with concussion symptoms. ... Fister was 0-1 in his previous three starts after winning four in a row. ... Collins said he wears No. 10 in grateful tribute to Leyland and credited the Detroit skipper with being a mentor. Leyland gave Collins his first big league coaching job in 1992 with Pittsburgh. Alyssa Naeher USA Jersey . -- Charlie Graham stopped 67 shots as the Belleville Bulls edged the visiting Guelph Storm 6-5 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League action. Hope Solo USA Jersey . After Gasquet beat fifth-seeded Ivan Dodig of Croatia 7-5, 6-3, Tsonga followed up with a 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-2 win against sixth-seeded Edouard Roger-Vasselin in an all-French match. http://www.uswomensoccerproshop.com/becky-sauerbrunn-usa-jersey/ . There are surprises among the Vezina candidates, but most of the others are standard top-tier performers, even if the two Hart Trophy runners-ups have never been quite as good as they have been through the first half of the season. Christen Press Soccer Jersey . -- Matt Rupert scored once in regulation and again in the shootout as the London Knights extended their win streak to nine games by defeating the Owen Sound Attack 4-3 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action. Alyssa Naeher Jersey . After a lengthy wait, persistent rain finally forced the postponement of the Nationals game against the Miami Marlins on Saturday night. The teams, and a few thousand fans, waited nearly four hours from the 7:05 scheduled start time before an announcement was made shortly before 11 p.SOCHI, Russia -- No Dutch sweep this time. Martina Sablikova saw to that. Sablikova defended her Olympic speedskating title in the womens 5,000 metres Wednesday, knocking the Netherlands off the top step of the medal podium. The 26-year-old from the Czech Republic set a track record at Adler Arena with a time of six minutes 51.54 seconds. Its not like the Dutch didnt show up. They added two more medals to their record haul, as Ireen Wust took the silver in 6:54.28, while 35-year-old mother Carien Kleibeuker grabbed the bronze in 6:55.66. It was Wusts fourth medal of the Sochi Games, added to a gold in the 3,000 and silvers in the 1,000 and 1,500. Ivanie Blondin of Ottawa was the lone Canadian in the field, finishing 14th in 7:20.10, 28.56 seconds behind Sablikova. Racing against Sablikova in the seventh of eight pairs, Wust knew she had to push the pace early and hope to hang on. She built a sizeable lead but began to fade just past the midway point. Sablikova went right on by -- and never slowed up. The standings were a reversal of the 3,000, when Wust beat Sablikova to deny the Czech skater a shot at repeating as a double gold medallist in the two longest womens events. But Sablikova was determined to hang on to her title in the 5,000, even dropping the 1,500 -- an event she won bronze in four years ago -- to focus her preparation fully on the final individual speedskating race of these games. The strategy paid off with another gold. The Duutch speedskaters have now won 21 medals overall, more than every country in Sochi except Russia and the United States.ddddddddddddThe Netherlands will be big favourites in both team pursuit races, the only events left at Adler Arena, giving Wust a shot at a fifth medal in Sochi. Forty-one-year-old Claudia Pechstein of Germany was denied again in her quest for a 10th career medal. She finished fifth, missing the podium by less than 3 seconds. Kleibeuker was the oldest female speedskater to represent the Netherlands at the Winter Games. After the flower ceremony, she scooped up her 5-year-old daughter for a victory lap around the infield. Kleibeuker was 10th in the 5,000 at the 2006 Turin Games, where she witnessed a bribery attempt by two members of the Dutch speedskating team. This time, the Olympics were all about her results on the ice. Pechstein won the 5,000 three straight times starting with the 1994 Lillehammer Games, and also had a silver and a bronze in the grueling event. She was determined to win another medal in Sochi after being banned from the Vancouver Games over a doping case which was based on abnormal blood levels rather than a positive test. She steadfastly denied any wrongdoing, kept on skating and qualified for her sixth Olympics at an age when most skaters have long since retired. But Pechstein couldnt make the podium in Sochi, finishing fourth in the 3,000, one spot worse in the 5,000, and 19th in the 1,500. Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '