After a pair of home-run-saturated wins to start a three-game series in the Bronx, the Tigers looked to complete the sweep on a swelteringly-hot Wednesday afternoon. It took a couple of extra innings, and the drama was a little too much to bear at times, but the Tigers managed to pull off the sweep, winning 6-2 in 11 innings.
Troy Melton made his seventh start of the year for the Tigers. His previous two outings went six innings and saw him give up a single run each time. His previous start, at home
against the Astros, saw him retire the first sixteen batters in a row before eight-hole hitter Taylor Trammell hit a solo home run. The one before that, against the White Sox, was almost as good: he surrendered a solo home run to the first batter he saw, and gave up no more hits (although he did walk three).
Facing the Tigers was righty Will Warren, who was making his seventeenth start of the year. He’s been good overall, in his second full season in the major leagues; he led the American League last year in games started with 33, and finshed eighth in Rookie of the Year voting. He got roughed-up in his last start in Fenway Park, though, and quite a few of his recent starts have seen him exit before the fifth inning. He definitely walks more batters than Yankee fans would like to see, and that’ll help shorten an outing.
Dillon Dingler, naturally, got on base with a double with one out in the top of the first. He advanced to third on a Kerry Carpenter groundout, but Riley Greene struck out to end the inning. Similarly, Melton gave up a leadoff single to Ben Rice, but he was stranded on first as the third out was made.
In the top of the third, Kevin McGonigle found a fastball he liked, and smacked it a long way over the bullpen in right-centrefield for a 1-0 Tiger lead.
Meanwhile, Melton kept rolling: he gave up a two-out double to Jazz Chisolm Jr. in the fourth, then struck out the next three batters he faced.
The Tigers added to their lead in the sixth: Dingler led off with a single, then took third on a Carpenter single, who himself skooched up to second when the outfielder’s throw sailed over the cutoff man. Greene hit a sacrifice fly to the wall in left field, scoring Dingler to make it 2-0.
Carpenter smartly advanced to third, seeing that Cody Bellinger in left field had caught the ball rather flat-footed and wouldn’t be able to get a good throw to third base. After Colt Keith struck out, Spencer Torkelson walked, but Zach McKinstry hit a sharp comebacker to the mound and the third out was recorded at first base.
After two quick outs in the bottom of the sixth, Tigers pitching coach Chris Fetter paid Melton a visit on the mound to discuss how to pitch to Bellinger. Whatever they talked about seemed to work, as Bellinger struck out on a 1-2 cutter, and that officially made three straight starts that Melton had made it through six innings with two or fewer hits, and one or no runs surrendered. Seeing as how he was cruising, and his pitch count was at a comfortable 81 he didn’t get the ol’ handshake, meaning he’d come out to start the seventh.
After Melton got one out in the seventh, he was told his job was done for the day, and Drew Sommers was brought in to face the lefty Chisolm, and he struck him out on a drop-down sidearm slider. (Remember years ago when pitchers would occasionally drop down sidearm to give a different look? They don’t seem to do that much anymore.) Anyway, Melton’s final line was 6 1/3 innings, 2 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts, and holy moly, that is lovely. Sommers coaxed a grounder to short for the final out of the seventh, and the Tigers were six outs away from a sweep… theoretically.
Drew “The Other One” Anderson came on for the eighth and he got into, and out of, a jam. A pair of singles and a sacrifice bunt (more on this in a minute) put runners on second and third with one out. But Anderson got Rice to strike out on three pitches — the final one swinging a 99-mph heater right down the middle — and then Jasson Dominguez followed with a screaming line drive to centre… which was caught by James “The Third” Outman.
Now, about bunts… some people love ‘em. Some people hate ‘em. My opinion is that their use should be extremely limited: by a home team in extra innings in a tie game with a runner on second (more on this in a minute), and maybe in a first-and-second, no-out situation. But that’s it, other than trying to bunt for a base hit. The revised Run Expectancy Matrix suggests that the latter case, on average, decreases expected run scoring — but you also have to take into account who’s at bat, who’s behind him, the game situation, and so on.
In the top of the ninth the Tigers went 1-2-3 against two different pitchers, so we’d go to the end with a two-run lead, a narrow margin in the Bronx Bandbox. Too narrow, as we shall see.
Anderson carried on into the ninth and gave up a one-out solo home run to Amed Rosario to make it a 2-1 game. Chisolm reached first on a ground ball that clanked off Torkelson’s glove, and he stole second on the first pitch. He stole third on the next pitch — pay attention, Drew! — and the infield drew in tight. Anderson yanked a changeup into the dirt, the wild pitch scored Chisolm, and the score was tied. Anthony Volpe hit a comebacker that Anderson couldn’t handle for an infield single, and he tried to steal second but came off the bag and McKinstry kept the glove on him. A popup to third base was the final out of the inning, and we’d go to extras.
With one out in the top of the tenth, McKinstry — who was on second — took third on a very wild pitch. Jake Rogers struck out for the second out, bringing up McGonigle… who flew out to right.
Keider Montero came in for the bottom of the tenth as he begins a stint in the bullpen, and Spencer Jones started the inning on second base. The Yankees came a-buntin’, and Jones advanced to third with one out. That pulled the outfielders in comically shallow, and Oswaldo Cabrera struck out for the second out. Rice was up next and he was intentionally walked so Montero could face Ali Sanchez, who he struck out to send the game into the eleventh.
Camilo Duval, armed with a 103-mph fastball, was brought in to pitch the bottom of the eleventh. McGonigle started the inning on second, and he moved up to third on a Dingler groundout to second. Matt Vierling followed with a grounder to a drawn-in shortstop for the second out, and Greene was intentionally walked to bring up Hao-Yu Lee with runners on the corners. Greene moved up to second uncontested, and Lee walked on a wild slider to load the bases for Torkelson. The count went full, and Torkelson held off on a low sinker for the bases-loaded walk and a 3-2 lead. McKinstry was up next, and he poked a single into right; Greene and Lee scored, and after a wild throw by the Yankee catcher to second to try to nab McKinstry at second, Torkelson scored as well for a 6-2 lead.
Montero carried on into the bottom of the eleventh and slammed the door with a 1-2-3 inning, and that completed the sweep. Huge performance from Keider Montero. That was nice, wasn’t it?
Final score: Tigers 6, Yankees 2
Notes and Celebrations
- In case you missed it, Will Vest was placed on the Injured List with the dreaded “elbow inflammation.” Could this be the explanation behind his shaky performance so far this season, and especially lately? The Tigers are confident that it’s not a ligament issue, though, which is good news.
- Jake Rogers hit 21 home runs in 2023. That isn’t news, of course, but given his struggles at the plate in recent years, that just seems like a long time ago, doesn’t it?
- When looking up information about Will Warren, I saw there was a pitcher in the Negro National League from 1945-47 named Warren Peace. No word on whether or not he was into extremely long books.
- Happy Canada Day, everyone! On this day in 1867, after some people here asked the UK politely if they could run things themselves, the UK said, “Sure, why not? But we want you to keep the current king or queen on your coins. Could you do that for us?” We agreed to that, and a country was born.
