This was one of the wilder games of the season. There were baserunners aplenty, missed chances, stirring rallies followed by disappointment, only to do it all over again. The Tigers came back in this one repeatedly, and a huge rally in the eighth inning was the difference maker as they snatched victory from the jaw of defeat and took down the Rockies 11-7 at Comerica Park on Saturday.
Right-hander Tanner Gordon took on rookie left-hander Andrew Sears in Saturday’s matchup. Sears got a quick wake-up
call when Jake McCarthy lined one right off of him as the first batter of the game. Kevin McGonigle got the ricochet and threw McCarthy out anyway. Sears walked Hunter Goodman with two outs, and TJ Rumfield doubled to left, but they had to hold Goodman at third. Sears punched out Cole Carrigg on a good fastball up to end the inning unscathed.
Kevin McGonigle led off the bottom half with a single back through the box, but Hao-Yu Lee was locked up for strike three, Colt Keith lined out to center, and Riley Greene went down swinging.
Sears tossed a 1-2-3 second inning, striking out Jordan Beck on a another good fastball, and touched 96 mph in the inning. The Tigers missed a chance in the bottom half when Eduardo Valencia led off with a double. Max Clark flew out, but Spencer Torkelson singled and Brett Callahan walked to load the bases. Unfortunately, a double play ball off the bat of John Peck ended the inning.
Sears got into trouble with one out in the third as he hit McCarthy and then gave up a single to Connor Norby. Hunter Goodman stepped in, worked a full count, and managed to turn on a Sears fastball that was actually inside. He pulled it out to left for a three-run shot, and it was 3-0 Rockies.
McGonigle led off the bottom of the third with a solo shot, his 17th homer of the season. Lee and Keith flew out, but Greene lined a single to center, and Valencia lined one to left to put two on for Clark. The center fielder came through with a single through the right side to score Greene. Torkelson flew out to end the inning but it was 3-2 Rockies.
Sears gave up a one-out single to Jordan Beck in the fourth, and Adeal Amador doubled him in. Sears outing was teetering, but he bounced back, striking out Ezequiel Tovar and popping up McCarthy to end the inning. 4-2 Rockies.
The Tigers kept fighting back in the bottom half, once again getting the leadoff man on. Callahan hammered a double to left to start things off. Peck struck out and McGonigle followed suit, taking a called strike three. Lee came through with an opposite field double to score Callahan, and Keith singled in Lee to tie the game 4-4.
Keith wasn’t done either, stealing second base. However, Greene struck out and we were on to the fifth.
Sears gave up an automatic double to Norby to start the fifth, but bounced back to whiff Goodman. Rumfield singled, and that was the end of the day for Sears. Not a good outing for the rookie, but Goodman’s three-run shot was just a really good piece of hitting and Sears didn’t shy out of the zone. Tyler Kinley took over and popped up Carrigg and Kyle Karros to strand the runners. Nicely done by the veteran there.
Juan Mejia took over from Gordon in the bottom half. He walked Valencia, putting the leadoff man on for five straight innings, and Max Clark smoked a ground ball up the middle and hit the afterburners as Valencia took the turn and got to third, and Clark followed him to second with a double.
Once again, the Tigers frustrations with runners in scoring position continued as Torkelson flew out, Callahan struck out, and Peck flew out in foul territory to strand them both.
Kinley pulled a nice escape in the fifth, but then he walked Beck and hit Amador to open the sixth inning. Tovar dropped down a bunt to move the runners, making the first out. AJ Hinch went to Drew Sommers at that point, but McCarthy got a 1-2 sinker over the middle and singled to left, scoring both runs. 6-4 Rockies.
Norby followed with a hard hit line drive for a single, but Goodman grounded one back to Sommers, who fired to Peck and on to first for an inning ending double play.
As was their custon, the Tigers then put two men on immediately and couldn’t score them either. McGonigle and Lee walked to start the bottom of the sixth, but the Rockies turned to lefty Brennan Bernardino. Hinch hit Gleyber Torres for Keith, but he took a called strike three. Greene flew out to center, and Valencia grounded out to strand everyone.
Sommers gave up a leadoff single to Rumfield in the seventh. A sac bunt from Carrigg followed, getting Rumfield to second. Beau Brieske took over from a somewhat struggling Sommers. He gave up a single, but then he whiffed Beck on a perfect slider, and Amador grounded out to end the frame.
Max Clark caught the Rockies napping with a nice bunt single to start the bottom half. They knew how to get on base early in an inning. Scoring the runners remained the issue. Torkelson popped out in foul territory, Ben Malgeri hit for Callahan and took a called third. Peck game through with a hilarious swinging bunt that stayed true down the third base line and hit the bag while Karros waited for it to rumble foul. It just never did. It also didn’t matter much because McGonigle smoked a drive to center field, but it was caught by Carrigg to again frustrate the Tigers.
Brieske was still on the mound in the top of the eighth. A 1-1 slider to Tovar got yanked deep down the left field line for a leadoff solo shot. A fan got his paws on the ball as he hit the base of the foul pole, and the whole thing looked sketchy, but after review the call on the field was confirmed. Truly the ball looked like it was going to miss on the foul side of the pole, but presumably it was a Tigers fan getting involved there so -1 WAR for the crowd in my opinion. Brieske cleaned up the rest of the inning with no issues, but it was 7-4 Rockies.
Would the Tigers get the leadoff man on in the eighth? They would! Hao-Yu Lee led off against new reliever Jaden Hill with a double to left, and Torres followed suit with an RBI double. Riley Greene ripped a single through the right side, scoring Torres, and suddenly it was 7-6 Rockies, and no outs in the inning. Zach McKinstry pinch-hit for Greene, which was interesting, and with the outfield playing him to pull, Valencia dropped a drive into right center field for a single, and McKinstry went first to third.
Max Clark flashed bunt to keep the Rockies on their toes and they proved shaky. Hill missed with three straight. Clark was taking all the way on the a 3-0 fastball down the middle, but Hill missed away with a changeup to walk him and load the bases. Mr. Clark is looking extremely pro out there at this point, doing a whole lot of little things to go with the more obvious skills. As you might imagine, that was it for Hill. Veteran right-hander Jordan Romano took over against Torkelson.
Romano got a pitch clock violation and fell behind against Torkelson 3-1. A foul toward the tarp on the first base side saw Rumfield crash into it trying to catch the ball. He failed, misjudging how much room he had, and then Romano missed 3-2 to walk Torkelson, score McKinstry, and tie the game up 7-7.
There were still no outs in the inning as Malgeri stepped into the batters’ box. Romano just couldn’t find the controls, and he walked Malgeri as well. Three straight walks, two of them of the RBI variety. That scored Valencia, gave the Tigers an 8-7 lead, and there were still no outs. Peck was up and he drove a ball into the right center field gap. Carrigg made the play, but Clark tagged and scored to make it 9-7.
McGonigle smoked a line drive right to McCarthy in left for the second out, but the Tigers weren’t done in the inning yet. Romano just started spamming sliders to Hao-Yu Lee and got ahead of him, but Lee fought off everything Romano was throwing. The rookie wisely took a break 2-2 and went and got more stick’em for his bat, giving himself time to think. Then he went back to fouling off everything Romano could throw. Eventually, Lee broke Romano’s spirit. The right-hander came with a high fastball and Lee hammered it off the right field wall. Beck got turned around or he could’ve caught it, but instead two runs scored, and Lee roared into third base with a triple.
As you’d imagine, Lee was fired up, roaring at his teammates in the dugout, slapping himself in the face, and generally hyping the whole stadium to the nines. Awesome stuff. What a professional at-bat that was. 11-7 Tigers, and suddenly they just needed to close this one out. Quite the turn of events.
Suddenly, Kenley Janses was on for an unexpected scenario that the Tigers had broken open to the point that it wasn’t a save situation anymore. He whiffed Rumfield on a nasty cutter, and Carrigg hit one hard, but out to Clark for the second out. Against Karros, Jansen missed first pitch and the Tigers challenge was unsuccessful. A good slider was yanked foul, but at that point Hinch and the training staff came out to check on Valencia. He stayed in anyway, though Dillon Dingler was getting his gear on. Finally, a slider backed up from Jansen and clipped Karros on the hand. So, it was down to Beck, and neither team had a challenge remaining. OLD SCHOOL!
Jansen fell behind 2-0 to Beck, then coaxed a foul ball to make it 2-1. A whiff on a high cutter made it 2-2, and a miss high worked the count full. A cutter down the middle was popped foul and out of play. Another one was fouled tipped into the glove, and just like that the Tigers had won 11-7 for their third straight victory and a chance at the sweep on Sunday.
