The Detroit Tigers took the field on a lovely night in San Diego, looking to complete a road sweep of the Padres to open the season. It didn’t work out that way, though they continued to keep the Padres offense in check. The Tigers hitters were a little too jumpy against Padres’ pitching, with only a handful of hard hit balls, most of them from Colt Keith, to show for it as they fall to 2-1 on the year.
The Tigers were facing a young-ish starter in right-hander Randy Vasquez. Undistinguished in his
short career to date, Vasquez earned a starting role via improved velocity and command in spring camp. He gave the Tigers trouble all night by keeping everything around the zone even when he missed, and the Tigers kept chasing a bit too much.
Kerry Carpenter chased a pair of breaking balls to open the game with a strikeout. Gleyber Torres drew a walk, and Colt Keith roped a double down the right field line. Unfortunately, being slow, Torres couldn’t score on the play, and so it was second and third with one out. Riley Greene grounded one to second and Jake Cronenworth fired home to cut down Torres. Spencer Torkelson put together a patient at-bat, but took a called third on a fastball away that was just off the plate. He failed to challenge despite the reasonably high leverage scenario, and that was that.
Jack Flaherty opened his season with a strong 1-2-3 frame. Cronenworth grounded out to McGonigle, playing shortstop in this one, and Flaherty dialed up 95-96 mph to freeze both Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado on called third strikes.
Kevin McGonigle opened the second inning by also taking a called strike three that was just out of the strike zone. He too decided not to challenge. USE THE CHALLENGES, GUYS! Anyway, Matt Vierling lifted a routine high fly to right, and Gavin Sheets made a nice diving stop to rob Zach McKinstry of a single to send it to the bottom half.
Flaherty popped up Jackson Merrill to open the bottom of the second. Xander Bogearts lined out to Torkelson at first, though there was a missed strike call there that Jake Rogers was probably kicking himself for not challenging. Flaherty showed off several 88-89 mph changeups, continuing a spring trend. He eventually got a soft tapper from Sheets back to him and recorded the out, sending us to the third.
The Tigers went quickly in order, with Jake Rogers and Gleyber Torres striking out swinging on either side of a Carpenter ground out.
Ramon Laureano greeted Flaherty with a drive to the wall in right field. McKinstry, getting a start in right field, went back and made a nice jumping catch on the warning track for the first out of the inning. Flaherty got ahead of Castellanos and got him to ground out to McGonigle for the second out of the third. Freddy Fermin came up with the Padres first hit, lining a single to left, and Cronenworth followed suit, spraying a two-strike fastball that got too much plate for a single to left as well. That brought Tatis Jr. back to the dish, and you don’t love that with two on. A 1-1 slider off the plate was called a strike and then Jack came back with a 1-2 heater that buzzed Tatis Jr.‘s tower to run the count full. Utimately, Tatis anticipated that after coming inside twice, they’d go away, and he got a slider away and lined an RBI single to right field for a 1-0 lead.
Chris Fetter came out for a chat, and Flaherty got ahead in the county, but Tatis broke for second and Gleyber Torres just whiffed on a pretty good throw from Rogers. The ball went into center field, Cronenworth scored, and then Flaherty walked Machado. Merrill lined out to right to end the inning, but it was 2-0 Padres and Flaherty had that bad vibe he gets when he has to pitch out of the stretch a few times and loses his rhythm. He was uncomfortable and his command showed it the rest of his outing.
Colt Keith set the Tigers back to work in the fourth with a leadoff walk. More of this patience, please. Riley Greene took a close strike three call at the top of the zone for the first out. Vasquez was sitting 95-96 mph with sinkers and fourseamers, mixing in his other stuff well. Torkelson got a good pitch to hit and roasted a fastball to the fence in left but not quite high enough. Laureano jumped and hauled it in, and Keith had to retreat to first. McGonigle got a 2-1 breaking ball that hung in the sweep spot down and in, but he jumped it and pulled it foul before grounding out to first on a changeup down to end the top half.
Flaherty’s 60th pitch was a strike to open the bottom of the fourth, and Bogearts grounded the next pitch to Keith at the third. Keith threw a one-hopper but Tork scooped it for the first out. Sheets lined one pretty deep to left, but Riley Greene did Riley Greene things, getting a great jump and laying out in slightly awkward fashion to send Sheets back to the dugout. Laureano got a 1-2 knuckle curve below the zone and flared a single off the bat, but Castellanos lifted a deep fly to left that died at the wall like Torkelson’s for the third out.
The Tigers went in order in the fifth, as Vierling and McKinstry both whiffed at high fastballs and each saw only one strike in the at-bat, and then Rogers flew out to left. Vasquez certainly looked upgraded from his previous seasons, but after some good at-bats early, the Tigers definitely helped him out by failing to take more pitches.
Flaherty by this point wasn’t doing any better a job controlling the zone than his teammates. He went 3-0 to his first two hitters, getting Fermin to pop out to McGonigle, but walking Cronenworth on four pitches. He was over 80 pitches and the hook was brewing as Tatis got to 3-0, and Flaherty yanked another one to walk him. Jake Rogers came out for a mound meeting, but A.J. Hinch didn’t go to the bullpen with Machado up and lefty Brant Hurter ready to enter the game. Machado worked into a 3-2 count and just missed a meatball of a slider right down the middle. Flaherty wasn’t close with another 3-2 slider, issuing his third straight walk, and that was it as Hurter entered for his first appearance of the season with the bases loaded and one out.
Hurter got a quick groundout from Merrill to second base, but it was well placed to avoid the double play and Torres hesitated as Machado hit the brakes right in from of him. He could’ve tagged Machado and maybe gotten the out at first two, but Merrill is quick, and so Torres thought better of it and tossed to second for the out as the run scored. 3-0 Padres. Bogearts smacked a one-hopper to Torres to end the inning. Nice work from Hurter there.
There are three types of Flaherty outing. The ones were he dominates. The ones where he gives up a couple of homers and gets knocked out early, and today’s model, where he’s mostly good but runs out of gas and leaks a late run as the lineup turns over the third time.
Vasquez got Carpenter on a deep flyout to center, and then Torres grounded out to open the sixth. Colt Keith lined a single for his second hit of the night, and that left it up to Riley Greene in the sixth. Vasquez looked like he was running out of gas, walking Greene on five pitches to bring up Torkelson with McGonigle looming in the on deck circle. Kid’s already looming, guys. The Padres had a little meet-up at the mound to try and settle their pitcher down for one more hitter. Tork got a good pitch and smoked a one-hopper, but he hit it to Manny Machado for the final out of the inning. Eight strikeouts from Vasquez vs. three walks and two Keith hits allowed, and they really helped him out with most of the punchouts by expanding out of the zone against him.
Hurter tied Sheets into knots with a sinker for a whiff to start the bottom half. Laureano jumped a first pitch sinker for a solid single to right field and Castellanos followed suit. With Fermin coming up Hinch had seen enough of Hurter facing a long stretch of right-handed hitters. Not sure why Drew Anderson or Seabold weren’t up a little earlier in this one anyway against a heavily right-handed hitting team, but it was Seabold entering in a tight spot to make his Tigers debut in the sixth.
Seabold dusted Fermin with a 96 mph heater on the outer edge to start his outing. He then got ahead of Cronenworth 0-2 before fishing a bit to even the count. Cronenworth spoiled a pair of good fastballs, and Seabold tried a cutter and then a changeup that were both fouled off. Seabold nailed the bottom rail with a beaut of a fastball for a called strike three…but Cronenworth wisely challenged and he was correct. So, everyone dug back in with a 3-2 count. Another high fourseamer was fouled off, and Cronenworth was putting together a really good AB. Laureano broke and stole third with Seabold not paying attention, but he managed not to step off for a pitch clock violation and fired a fastball that Cronenworth lined one to McGonigle to end the inning and turn away the threat. Not great, but not a bad first appearance for Mr. Seabold.
So it was 3-0 Padres heading into the seventh, and with Mason Miller lurking in the Padres pen, it was time to get cooking on a comeback.
Lefty Kyle Hart took over in the top of the seventh. McGonigle took a first pitch slider for a strike, but again it was actually just out of the zone. The Tigers know they can’t save up challenges to cash in for prizes later, yes? Either way, Kevin worked his way back into a 3-2 count but then took a slider up and away, just nicking the corner. Finally, the Tigers challenged, and so of course this time they were wrong.
Hart carved up Vierling with some nasty splitters, and so it was up to Jahmai Jones, pinch-hitting against the lefty for Zach McKinstry. He put together a solid AB, but lined out to a sliding Tatis Jr. in right to end the Tigers’ half of the inning.
Seabold punched out Tatis to open the bottom half, with a failed Tatis challenge ended the at-bat. Seabold got ahead of Machado and he grounded out to Torres for the second out. The broadcast discussed Seabold’s higher arm slot with the Blue Jays this spring. His velocity is up a tick, he has a quick arm with a bit of deception perhaps, and he is getting a little more carry on the fourseamer. His changeup is solid. The new slider better but erratic on this night. But, he threw strikes for the most part and the left-handed Merrill flew out to Greene in left to end the inning. We don’t Sea-gold just yet, but a solid effort from the Tigers’ newest reliever.
Hart was still in the game, and he quickly popped out Rogers. Hinch pinch-hit Dillon Dingler for Carpenter, which is interesting, but he flew out to Tatis. Torres waited out Hart into a 3-2 count but whiffed at a cutter, and the Tigers were down to their final three outs.
Seabold stayed out there with his pitch count over 30 pitches in the bottom of the eighth. Bogearts flew out to Vierling. Sheets took a slider up and away for a called strike three, and didn’t challenge it. He would’ve won. Seabold quickly worked ahead of Laureano as well with a pair of well located heaters, but the outfielder battled back and eventually lined a two-out single to right field. That was all for Seabold, but it was a good debut as he collected seven outs in a row with three punchouts before the single ended his night.
Hinch turned to Will Vest to shut this inning down and keep the game close enough for a ninth inning rally with the heart of the lineup due up. Bryce Johnson pinch-ran for Laureano. Castellanos dug into the box, saying hello to old friend Jake Rogers, and then grounded out to Keith, who again got a bad grip and bounced it over to first. Torkelson made another nice scoop, and we were on to the ninth.
It would be a tall task for the Tigers against the flamethrowing Mason Miller. Keith saw a steady diet of sliders and Miller dropped one just on the outer edge for strike three after a worthy challenge from Keith. Greene lifted a slider to left for the second out. Torkelson worked to 2-0, fouled off a high triple digit heater, and then took one away to get to 3-1. Tork fouled off two fastballs and then Miller missed up to walk him. That brought McGonigle to the dish. Miller dropped a pair of sliders in for strikes, and the rookie chased one down to end it.
The Tigers are 2-1 on the year, and they’ll begin their journey back east with a three-game stop in Phoenix to battle the Diamondbacks on Monday through Wednesday.
