The first game of a midweek three-game series at home against the Cleveland Guardians saw the Detroit Tigers dramatically tie the game down with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, only to melt down spectacularly in the tenth for a 7-5 loss.
Casey Mize’s two previous starts for the Tigers have been pretty darn good — one run in five innings, two runs in six innings, and nary a walk between ‘em — after a rough stretch in August. Heading into the playoffs, he can definitely lay a claim to being the rotation’s
number-two starter, which ain’t that bad considering who’s number-one.
Summitting the tiny mountain for the Guardians was Joey Cantillo, a lefty from Hawaii in his second year, and first full season, with Cleveland. He’s made quite a few appearances out of the bullpen but was making his eleventh start, and he brought with him a bushel-basket full of curveballs and changeups.
Cleveland got on the board with a pair of two-out hits in the second: Nolan Jones hit a double to right field on a hot one-hopper that ate up Spencer Torkelson before bouncing into right field. On the next pitch CJ Kayfus singled to right, scoring Jones for a 1-0 lead.
The Tigers tried to answer back in the bottom of the inning: with one out Andy Ibáñez reached on an error by the shortstop Gabriel Arias. Dillon Dingler followed with a double to left, and Ibáñez tried to score from first; it would’ve taken a perfect relay by Steven Kwan to get him and, goshdarnit, that’s exactly what Kwan and Arias served up.
Hey, you run the bases aggressively, you’re going to get thrown out every once in a while. Also, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, what I wouldn’t give to have Kwan on my team.
The Tigers evened the score in the third with a Gleyber Torres home run; he was hackin’ on 3-0 and he got into ‘er.
The Cleves got back on top with a solo home run of their own, courtesy of Gabriel Arias, in the top of the fourth to retake the lead, 2-1. They extended the lead in the sixth with a José Ramírez single and stolen base, an infield single by Kyle Manzardo (on a play in which Mize should’ve covered first but was late to the bag), and a double to right by Bo Naylor which scored Ramírez for a 3-1 game with none out and two in scoring position. Mize struck out Arias, but that was the end of his night as his pitch count was climbing sharply.
The lesson taught repeatedly by the Guardians in this one was do the little things right in close games, and you tend to win.
Holton was summoned to relieve Mize, and David Fry hit a grounder to Báez’s left: he charged, scooped and fired home in one move, nabbing Manzardo at the plate. Then Holton struck out Kayfus to end the threat, and if Holton can be a reliable option in the Tiger bullpen as September turns to October, wouldn’t that be nice.
The Tigers got runners on the corners with one out in the bottom of the sixth via a Riley Greene hit-by-pitch and a single by Colt Keith. (The out was Spencer Torkelson getting thrown out trying to advance to second on a pitch that got away from Naylor, but not too far away.) Dingler then hit a grounder to Ramírez at third; he threw to second to get the second out, but the relay to first wasn’t in time to get Dinger, which allowed Greene to score, narrowing the lead to 3-2. Alas, Meadows then lined out to centre to end the inning.
Bailey Horn replaced Holton, who retired all five batters he faced, to start the eighth. He gave up a one-out single to Manzardo but struck out Naylor, handing the pitching duties over to Rafael Montero who struck out Arias for the final out of the frame.
Torkelson led off the bottom of the eighth with a sharp hit to the left-field corner, held to a single by a great read and throw by Kwan. The tough Tim Herrin was brought in, and he struck out Greene for the first out, pinch-hitter Jake Rogers for the second out, and Dingler for the third out.
Montero carried on into the top of the ninth and struck the side, which is nice. But could the Tigers come back to at least tie the game on the bottom of the inning? They’d have to face Cade Smith, no easy feat.
Well, Meadows grounded out to first, and pinch-hitter Zach McKinstry struck out. Kerry Carpenter was brought into pinch-hit for Jahmai Jones, and on a 2-1 count, he rocked a fastball over the centrefield fence to tie up the game 3-3. Pretty dramatic!
Will Vest was brought on for the tenth, and the electric atmosphere after that home run short-circuited immediately. Brayan Rocchio started on second, and Kwan led off with a double down the right-field line for a 4-3 lead. Angel Martínez tripled (after trying and failing to bunt twice) up the left center field gap to make it 5-3, and then Ramírez ground-rule-doubled down the left field line to make it 6-3 after eight Vest pitches. Manzardo followed with a double of his own, and Arias singled to score Ramírez and it was 7-3. Take it away, Ron:
But hey, the Tigers made it mildly interesting in the bottom of the tenth with a home run by Torkelson to narrow the gap to 7-5. That was all, though, and we’ll just have to go get ‘em tomorrow night. Jack Flaherty will take the ball for the Tigers against a good right-hander in Gavin Williams. This isn’t supposed to be easy.
Final score: Guardians 7, Tigers 5
Numbers and Observances
- Javier Baez’s OPS by month this season: .745, .765, .840, .426, .628. That low July number was in slightly fewer plate appearances, FYI. But hey, you know what his OPS was all last year? A sparkling .516.
- Today was when the Guardians and Tigers observed Roberto Clemente Day, with many players wearing #21 in his honour.
- On this day in 1858, Andrew Bonar Law was born in New Brunswick. He later became Prime Minister of the UK in 1922-23 before having to resign due to throat cancer, which killed him shortly after his resignation. I like him for two reasons: one, he’s Canadian by birth (despite moving back to his parents’ native Scotland as a kid), and two, his last name is pretty rockin’. Bonus thing: he went by “Bonar” as his first name. Also rockin’.
