The Tigers needed some of their big names to get it together and win them a game. Framber Valdez answered the call with seven shutout frames on Saturday, while Riley Greene homered twice and drove in four in a four-hit game. The bullpen only needed to go two innings to hold a 6-0 lead, and they did so with no trouble.
The Tigers already saw the weaker end of the Guardians rotation, so this was only going to get tougher on Saturday against Parker Messick, and then Gavin Williams on Sunday. With Framber
Valdez going, the defense would need to be sharp, while Kevin McGonigle and Max Clark both got a needed day off against the left-hander.
Gleyber Torres and Hao-Yu Lee started the game off by striking out, but Riley Greene crushed a Messick cutter over the left center field wall for a solo shot and a quick 1-0 lead.
Steven Kwan grounded out to Lee to start the bottom of the first. Angel Martinez dumped a little broken bat bliner between Spencer Torkelson and Javier Báez for a single. Báez, playing second, collected it but Valdez wasn’t covering first expecting the ball in the air to be caught. Jose Ramirez lined out to Ben Malgeri in right field. Jo Adell got a bat broken as well but fouled off a 1-2 sinker in on his hands. A high fastball missed, but a good curveball whiffed him.
Malgeri started the second inning by driving a single to right center field. He thought about two, but hit the brakes, probably wisely. Torkelson chased a slider away and struck out. John Peck stayed back just enough to flick a changeup into center field for a single. Messick blew Zach McKinstry and Báez away with high fastballs to end the inning, with five and the Tigers first six outs coming on swinging strike threes.
David Fry led off the bottom half with a single through the right side of the infield. Angel Genao did the same thing. The speedy Petey Halpin put down a bunt toward third, but Hao-Yu Lee handled it, firing to Báez covering first. So it was second and third with one out. Valdez popped Austin Hedges up down the right field line to Malgeri, and the right fielder fired a strike to the plate to keep Fry at third. Brayan Rocchio grounded out to Peck, stranding both runners.
The Tigers took a little momentum from that as Torres led off with a single and Lee walked. Riley Greene came though again with a line drive single to score Torres, but Lee took way too big a turn and was thrown out trying to get back to the bag. Dillon Dingler bit on a good changeup and struck out as his recent struggles continued. Messick’s seventh strikeout came on another high fastball that Malgeri couldn’t hold up on. 2-0 Tigers, but yet again, they failed to fully capitalize on a rally.
Framber Valdez cruised in the bottom half, striking out Ramirez again to end the inning.
Torkelson, Peck, and McKinstry grounded out quickly in the top of the fourth, helping get Messick’s pitch count back in order. Valdez dispatched Adell with high heat to start the bottom half, and then snagged a comebacker from Fry for the second out. The dangerous, talented rookie Genao was up next, and barely checked with swing on an 0-2 curveball. A sinker got the ground out to Lee, wrapping up the fourth inning.
The top of the fifth saw Messick blow away Báez, Torres, and Lee in quick succession to reach 10 strikeouts in five innings of work. Halpin popped up a bunt to Valdez, who had it rattle out of his glove but caught it again waist high. That brought a rueful chuckle as his infield cracked up for a moment. He then walked Hedges, but got a 6-4-3 double play ball from Rocchio to end the inning. He was at 65 pitches through five frames. Still 2-0 Tigers.
Riley Greene led off the sixth, and he got a fourseamer in the same spot as the cutter he crushed in the first, and he hit it to almost exactly the same spot over the big wall in left center field for his 18th homer of the season. 3-0 Tigers.
Dingler bit on the changeup again and struck out. Malgeri though, hammered a drive into the right field corner for a double. Torkelson lifted a shallow fly ball off a pretty good 3-1 pitch to hit, and so it was up to Peck as Messick’s pitch count hit 90. The lefty missed with three straight fastballs, and Peck was taking on a 3-0 heater for a strike. He whiffed on the next fourseamer but Messick missed again to walk him, and Carl Willis came out to give his starter a pep talk for what would probably be his last batter in the game. That batter was McKinstry, who worked a 3-2 count but whiffed on a 96 mph heater for Messick’s 11th strikeout.
Valdez started bottom half getting Kwan to fly out to McKinstry in center. Martinez popped out to Torkelson behind first base. Ramirez got ahead 2-0, but grounded out to Peck to end the sixth.
Right-hander Matt Festa succeeded Messick in the top of the seventh, and there was a delay as the grounds crew cleaned up the mound. Báez fell behind 0-2 and flew out to center on a mistake pitch, clearly frustrated with himself. Torres pulled a grounder under Rocchio’s glove into left for a single. Lee put together a good at-bat and drew his second walk in the contest. That brought Greene to the dish and he hammered a double off the right field wall just short of his third home run.
Torres scored to make it 4-0, but Lee had to wait a beat to make sure the ball wasn’t caught and they held him at third. Festa was uncharacteristically spraying and he fell behind Dingler. The Tigers catcher lifted a high fly ball to left but just got underneath it a touch. Still it was a deep fly ball and enough to score Lee. Malgeri then lined a soft single to left center to plate Torres, and it was 6-0 Tigers. Malgeri now has 103 plate appearances in the majors with a 117 wRC+. I wouldn’t expect him to turn into a full-time, above average player for the Tigers, but he does a lot of things well and has already made a good case to take over Matt Vierling’s roster spot in particular.
Ron Kulpa had an equipment problem at that point, giving Festa a break as Willis came out to chat. He then punched out Torkelson to end the top of the seventh.
Valdez had a good 20 minute break while his teammates poured on the offense. He was only at 76 pitches beginning the frame, so he could potentially go two more frames with a quick inning. Instead, Adell fought through a long at-bat and then just nicked Adell with an inside heater in a 3-2 count. Fry grounded to Lee, who fired a one-hopper to second to get Adell as Báez made a nice pick on the throw. Genao then grounded into a 5-4-3 double play with a sweet turn from Javy and a nice scoop by Torkelson to wrap up the inning, and Valdez’s outing. The lefty was fired up after seven shutout innings, and so were his teammates. Gotta take a spark where you can find it right now.
Rookie right-hander Austin Peterson took over in the eighth. We saw him against the Hens twice this year, one good start and one shakier one. His fastball is nothing special, but as you’d figured from even a mediocre Guardians pitching prospect, he has quality secondary pitches and decent command.
Peck greeted him with a grounder to third that Ramirez couldn’t handle. They called it a single, and Peck will take it. McKinstry grounded into a force of Peck at second. Báez tapped one back to Peterson, and he spun and threw high to second and everyone was safe. That one was charged an error. Jose Ramirez gets a lot more deference, apparently. So first and seecond, one out, with Gleyber Torres at the plate. Torres hit a fly ball to Kwan in left and McKinstry tagged and took third, but Lee took a breaking ball just on the edge inside for strike three.
So, it was everyone’s favorite…bullpen time for the Tigers. Thanks to Valdez, they’d only need two innings, so we felt okay with a six-run lead. Possibly that’s because nothing matters anymore and life is meaningless, please Eat Arby’s, but hey, that’s just a long, miserably disappointing season talking.
Kyle Finnegan made quick work of the Guardians in the eighth. Halpin popped out again, and Hedges and Rocchio grounded out to wrap up a nine-pitch inning.
Peterson whiffed Greene on a changeup as the Guardians finally retired him in this one. Dingler grounded out, and Malgeri struck out to send it to the ninth.
Beau Brieske looked as good as we’ve seen him all year yesterday, and he came in to finish this one off. The new power curve Brieske debuted recently is pretty interesting, and his fastball-changeup combo look better, though he’s not back to the high 90’s velocity we saw from Brieske in his 2024 peak.
He got Kwan to ground out to Peck for the first out. Martinez lined out softly to Peck as well. Ramirez popped out to Báez, and that was a Tigers victory.
Jackson Jobe will take the mound for the Tigers on Sunday, facing off against the tough RHP Gavin Williams as the Tigers look to split the series. First pitch is set for 1:40 p.m. ET.
