Atlanta Braves pitcher Jose Lugo, right, talks to Detroit Tigers outfielder Delmon Young on March 7 in Lakeland, Fla. (AP Photo)LAKELAND, Fla. -- Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder could be the best 1-2 punch in baseball.
But so far, they’ve taken a backseat to spring's hottest hitters: Delmon Young and Ryan Raburn.
Raburn and Young each belted two-out, two-run home runs Tuesday afternoon en route to the Tigers’ 7-2 win over the Atlanta Braves at Joker Marchant Stadium.
It was the sixth homer for Raburn and Young's fourth -- giving them each a league-leading 18 RBIs this spring.
"I don’t know how to explain it," manager Jim Leyland said. "It just seems like Delmon and Raburn keep getting the pitch to hit. They’ve been hitting it pretty hard, and a lot of times pretty far."
It was the club’s seventh win in eight games. The Tigers improved their record to 13-2-3 this spring -- best in the majors.
Leyland acknowledged that this spring is the most comfortable and confident he's ever seen Raburn, who is now hitting .462.
"When you get a good pitcher and he's really on, you normally don't hit him," Leyland said. "When you get a good pitcher and he makes a mistake, the good hitters hit him and the bad hitters probably don't."
In 24 at-bats this spring, Raburn has hit just about everything thrown his way.
"I’m seeing the ball real well," Raburn said. "I’m taking good pitches and squaring the ball up."
Young, meanwhile, improved his team-high average to .485 with an RBI single in the third to score outfielder Andy Dirks and give the Tigers a three-run lead.
The club's No. 5 hitter, Young should find himself hitting behind Cabrera and Fielder for most the season, which Leyland admitted will provide him with plenty of run-scoring opportunities.
"There's definitely something to it," Leyland said. "When certain teams walk up with one (slugger) after another, there's really not much breathing room."
Making his fourth start this spring, Justin Verlander struck out four batters in five innings and bulldozed through the Braves' lineup, for the most part.
He ran into trouble in the third inning when he issued a no-out walk to Martin Prado to load the bases after allowing back-to-back singles. He induced a Chipper Jones popup before giving up a two-run single to Eric Hinske.
Working out of a jam for the first time this spring, Verlander tossed a handful of four-seamers that touched 97-98 mph.
"I tried to go to another level -- it was the first time I've done that," Verlander said. "The velocity was getting up there. It was a little harder to control for me, but the more I do it, the better it will get."
He struck out Matt Diaz on knee-buckling breaking ball to escape the third-inning jam.
Verlander and ex-Tigers right-hander Jair Jurrjens met with grounds crew at the mound in between the third and fourth inning to address a problem with the mound. He issued a spring-high two walks, which he attributed partly to a slippery surface.
"It was a bit more of a problem for Jair than it was myself," he said.
The Tigers scored seven runs -- six earned -- on eight hits against Jurrjens, whose ERA jumped from 9.72 to 10.13 this spring.
Fielder had a pair of hits, including an RBI single in the third that scored Brennan Boesch from second. He's now hitting .375 with six RBIs this spring.
Left-hander Phil Coke pitched a scoreless sixth and right-handers Brayan Villarreal, Luis Marte and Chris Bootcheck combined to pitch three shutout innings of two-hit baseball.
The right-handed trio haven't allowed a run to score in 15 1/3 innings.
Marte and Villarreal are vying for the final spot in the bullpen, which could also go to a left-handed long reliever -- namely, Adam Wilk or Duane Below.
"They've been pitching lights out all spring," Leyland said.
-- Follow James Schmehl on Twitter: @jamesschmehl.