Happy Opening Day, Detroit! Today’s home opener marked the warmest Opening Day ever at Comerica Park (70 degrees Farenheit at game-time), and the warmest Tigers Opening Day in general since 1991. The Tigers lineup also warmed up following Wednesday’s 1-0 loss to the Diamondbacks, and new Tigers ace Framber Valdez came through with six shutout innings in his Tigers home debut. Tigers win, 4-0, and win their third straight home opener.
Through the first three innings, Tigers hitters produced some impressive
swings, but no runs. Kevin McGonigle, in his first-ever game at Comerica Park and his first-ever game hitting leadoff for the Tigers, lead off today’s game by knocking a ball 403 feet into center field!… and into Victor Scott II’s glove for an out. Then, two hitters later, Kerry Carpenter lasered a ball to right field, 110.3 MPH off his bat!… his hardest ball hit in two years!…and off the right field wall for a long single. As a reminder, Colt Keith practically did the same thing on Wednesday, hitting the ball off the top of Chase Field’s right field wall; that ball staying in the park was the difference in Wednesday’s game.
In the third inning, Javier Báez singled and stole second, setting up a potential RBI for Gleyber Torres. Torres singled, but right fielder Jordan Walker gunned him out on the plate with a 100.6 MPH throw.
Tough luck for Detroit’s bats to start the day. Framber Valdez had their back, however, and opened today’s game by retiring the first eight batters he faced en route to six shutout innings. But although he only allowed five total hits and walks today, Valdez found himself managing traffic before the Tigers gave him a lead. The first potential Cardinals rally came with two outs in the third inning, as Victor Scott II and Masyn Winn notched back-to-back hits before an Iván Herrera groundout ended the threat.
The Cardinals fourth inning rally was more dramatic, and Detroit’s play in the face of adversity allowed them to settle into a comfortable win once the threat was put away. The inning got off to a typical start; Valdez allowed a leadoff single, secured two outs, then produced a ground ball to Spencer Torkelson off the bat of Yahel Pozo. But Torkelson struggled to field the ball, and once he finally got ahold of it and tossed it over to Valdez covering at first, Valdez not only failed to catch the ball, but took it off his throwing hand. Detroit had to check on their newly-signed star to see whether he could continue, and once they elected to keep him in the game, Valdez walked Thomas Saggese to load the bases. With the bases loaded and Tigers hitters in a 18-inning scoring drought, Valdez stayed down in the zone with his sinker and back-to-back curveballs to produce a weak José Fermín fly ball to end the threat. Isn’t it nice to have two aces?
After Valdez worked his way out of that fourth-inning jam, today’s Opening Day festivities truly began. First, after working a full count, Riley Greene sizzled a double to the gap in right-center field, 111 MPH off the bat. From there, rising star Dillon Dingler brought him home.
2-0, Detroit, and home run #2 for Dillon Dingler — and the Tigers period — this season.
Next, in the bottom of the fifth, Kevin McGonigle knocked a one-out double to left field, but was thrown out at third after Gleyber Torres hits into a fielder’s choice. With two outs, the Tigers rebuilt the rally, as Kerry Carpenter and Riley Greene knocked back-to-back singles off lefty Justin Bruihl to give Detroit a 3-0 lead. Carpenter’s unlikely lefty-on-lefty hit was a welcome sight after a miserable road trip that saw him go just 2-22 with 12 strikeouts. Greene’s hit, meanwhile, was his 500th hit!
Fun fact: the Tigers have two of baseball’s three top hitters through age-25 of all time: Ty Cobb tops that leaderboard with a staggering 1,433 hits through age-25, and Al Kaline had 1,200 hits through age-25 himself.
The last noteworthy bit of action from today came in the sixth inning, when Parker Meadows was hit by a pitch with two outs. Meadows stole second — his second stolen base of the year — to set up a Javier Báez single that gave the Tigers a 4-0 lead. From there, Will Vest, Kyle Finnegan, and Tyler Holton finished out the day; they redeemed Detroit’s Tuesday bullpen collapse with three combined shutout innings, allowing three total baserunners and striking out four. Holton was only out there for a couple of minutes, as he threw just seven pitches in the non-save situation to close this one out.
Thanks for the lack of stress, boys.
Final: Detroit 4, St. Louis 0
