The Detroit Tigers wasted a strong Jack Flaherty start and a chance to open more ground between them and the second best Toronto Blue Jays in the American League on Saturday. It was another night where they hit the ball hard often, but right to Royals defenders. Bobby Witt Jr. got to Tyler Holton for a two-run shot late that was the difference in this one.
Things started off quietly for the Tigers. Colt Keith grounded out, and Royals starter Stephen Kolek does collect a good amount of ground balls.
Gleyber Torres struck out, and Kerry Carpenter spanked a hard grounder up the middle but Bobby Witt Jr. made a nice play to corral it and fire to first to end the inning.
Jack Flaherty took care of leadoff man Mike Yastrzemski on a fly ball to right to open the bottom half. Witt grounded a 2-2 fastball away through the infield for a single. Flaherty fell behind Vinnie Pasquantino, missing down with a slider, a changeup, and a fastball away. A pair of well located fourseamers ran the count full, but with Witt running, a fastball right at the bottom of the zone was called low for a walk. Maikel Garcia used up a few more pitches, taking Flaherty to 23 on the inning, but the right-hander won out, getting a chopper to Trey Sweeney at short for the 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.
Spencer Torkelson opened the second inning in the cleanup spot, and roasted a line drive right to Garcia at third for an out. Michael Massey stabbed a rocket of a ground ball off the bat of Riley Greene with a diving play and converted the second out. Wenceel Pérez worked a 3-0 count, and then took a called strike and whiffed at the next two, foul tipping one in Sal Perez’s glove for strike three.
Salvy grounded out to Andy Ibáñez, getting a start at third, for the first out of the bottom half. The throw pulled Torkelson off the bag, but he managed to snare it and tag Perez anyway. Flaherty got ahead of left-handed hitting Adam Frazier as well, but couldn’t put him away as Frazier eventually lined a single to left. Flaherty bounced back to whiff Massey on a nasty knuckle curve down and in. Grichuk fell behind early in the count as well, but Flaherty had a little trouble putting him away, finally getting him to fly out to Wenceel Pérez in center field to end the inning at 43 pitches.
Dillon Dingler started the third inning off with a sharp single, and Trey Sweeney followed suit with a grounder to Yastrzemski in right. Dingler went first to third, and fortunately a strong throw from Yastrzemski hit Dingler and he was safe. Unfortunately, the Tigers had Dingler going on contact and Ibáñez pulled a firm grounder to Garcia, who fired home to cut Dingler down at the plate. Keith got three sliders off the plate to work a 3-1 count. Keith hit it on a line to center field, but Kyle Isbel ran it down on the track. Sweeney tagged and went to third, but now the squander loomed with two outs. Gleyber Torres was the right man for the job, lining a sharp single past Witt for an RBI single. 1-0 Tigers. Kerry Carpenter pulled a sharp one-hopper to Pasquantino to end the inning, but they were wearing on Kolek now and had a slim lead for Flaherty to work with.
The right-hander struck out Kyle Isbel to open the bottom of the third. Yastrzemski put up a battle but grounded out to Torkelson, and Witt flew out to Carpenter in right. That much needed clean inning got Flaherty’s pitch count in better shape, and we were on to the fourth.
Kolek fell behind against Torkelson to start the inning, but spotted a pair of good heaters that Tork fouled off, and he eventually lined out to Isbel. The Tigers already had multiple balls over 100 mph off the bat, but little to show for them. Greene grounded out to Pasquantino, who flipped to Kolek for the second out of the inning. Pérez also grounded out to Pasquantino, as Kolek continued to do his thing and get ground balls and liners without giving up damage.
Pasquantino worked a full count to start the bottom of the fourth, but smacked a hard ground ball to Flaherty’s left and he picked it to put away the leadoff hitter for the fourth straight inning. However, Garcia got a flat 0-1 knuckle curve at the bottom of the zone and golfed it into the left field seats to tie the game 1-1. Salvy bounced back to Flaherty for the second out of the inning on a slider. Frazier fell behind 1-2, and fouled off a good curve and then Flaherty’s hardest fastball of the night at 95.6 mph. He eventually grounded out to Sweeney for the final out.
So, tie ballgame, but Flaherty was at 74 pitches and unlikely to get any farther than the fifth. We hoped the hook would be at the ready, but after long outings for Kyle Finnegan and Troy Melton last night, the Tigers were going to need some work from Tyler Holton, and either Brenan Hanifee or Rafael Montero or both to get to the late innings and Will Vest in this one.
Dingler opened the fifth with a hard grounder up the middle for a single. A little bouncer in front of the plate from Trey Sweeney functioned as a sac bunt, getting Dingler to second base. Ibáñez again pulled a liner to third, and Garcia made a nice play to catch it and fire to second. Dingler got back but it was a really close play. He was ruled safe, but Matt Quatraro challenged the play. The review took a while, as Dingler went back to second standing and it was a bang bang play, but Dingler was confirmed safe. So, Colt Keith stepped in with two outs and Dingler in scoring position, but he just popped out to third to end the inning. Meh.
Massey lined a single to center to start the bottom of the fifth. Flaherty punched out Grichuk with a called strike at the bottom of the zone on a fastball. Dillon Dingler then cut down Massey with a quick release and an accurate one-hop throw to Sweeney at second. Isbel grounded out, and we were on to the sixth.
Kolek, meanwhile, was at 59 pitches as Gleyber Torres dug in as the first hitter of the sixth. He set the Tigers down in order without difficulty, punching out Torkelson to end the top half.
AJ Hinch decided to stick with Flaherty in the sixth, and I didn’t love it with the left-handed Yastrzemski up first and Witt Jr. to follow. Yas the second flew out to Carpenter for the first out. Flaherty got ahead of Witt with a first pitch heater down the middle and then one up that Witt flew off. He missed away with a slider, but got Witt swinging over the next one. Pasquantino walked as Flaherty tried to stay away from him, and that was the end of the night for Flaherty as Hinch called for Tommy Kahnle.
At this point on a Saturday evening, Tigers’ fans poured themselves a drink and hoped for the best.
A pair of changeups to Garcia made for a 1-1 count and Kahnle dropped another in for a strike. Another really good one below the zone drew the whiff, and we were on to the seventh still tied 1-1. Nice job, Tommy. Hinch was correct as usual.
The Royals turned to an old friend, right-hander John Schreiber to handle the seventh. Greene flew out to right, but Pérez lined a single to bring up Dingler. The Tigers catcher dumped a single into center field and Pérez got a great read and ran first to third right in Isbel’s face. The Royals center fielder uncorked an ill-advised throw to third and Dingler hauled it down to second base. So the Tigers had two in scoring position for Trey Sweeney. The Royals pulled their infield in, but Sweeney lifted a shallow fly ball to right field. Pérez decided not to challenge Yastrzemski’s arm, but the right fielder threw it wide of home plate. Schreiber did a nice job backing up the play and corralled it and Pérez was caught coming back down the line and fortunate that Schreiber decided to hold the ball. A rare lack of aggression on the bases did not pay off, as Zach McKinstry pinch-hit for Ibáñez. The Royals brought in lefty Angel Zerpa, and McKinstry grounded out to second to end the threat.
Kahnle got Salvy to fly out deep to left to open the bottom half. Frazier whiffed over a changeup for the second out, and Massey took a changeup for strike one, fouled off a second one, and then took a third for ball one. A fourth changeup was right at the bottom of the zone toward the outside corner, and Massey singled through the right side of the infield. Against Grichuk, Kahnle dropped in a first pitch changeup, then went upstairs with a heater for a whiff. He bounced a changeup through Dingler’s legs to get Massey to second base, but Kahnle eventually punched Grichuk whiffing over another changeup to send us to the eighth still knotted at 1-1 as Tyler Holton warmed in the Tigers’ pen.
So, Keith, Torres, and Carpenter were due up to start the eighth, and it was time to seize control of this one. Dear reader, they would not seize control of this one. Right-hander Lucas Erceg took over from Zerpa, and it wouldn’t be easy to get to him. Keith attacked a first pitch fastball down the middle and grounded out sharply to Pasquantino at first. Torres got into a full count but whiffed on 98.3 up in the zone. Carpenter had hit the ball sharply three times in this one with nothing to show for it, and Erceg spotted a well located 3-2 changeup just away off the plate and drew a routine ground out to end the inning.
Tyler Holton took over in the bottom half with lefties Isbel and Yastrzenski due up ahead of Witt Jr. Nick Loftin pinch-hit for Isbel instead, but flew out to Pérez in center field. The speedy Tyler Tolbert pinch-hit for Yas as Quatraro brought all his right-handed hitters into the game. Holton got whiffs on his cutter and changeup to get into a 2-2 count. Tolbert fouled off a high fastball and Holton missed with his next two to walk him. This is not the guy to issue a free pass to, particularly with Witt coming to the plate and Holton was visibly upset with himself. Rightly so, as an 0-1 fastball up but in the middle of the plate was smashed to center for a two-run shot and a 3-1 lead for the Royals. Witt will do that to you, but Holton’s year long struggle with home runs continues.
Holton got Pasquantino to ground out, and Hinch popped out of the dugout to bring in Brenan Hanifee. The right-hander put Garcia away on strikes and it was last call for the Tigers.
Right-hander Carlos Estévez came on to close it out. Torkelson worked a full count, but grounded softly back to the pitcher for the first out. Riley Greene strafed an opposite field liner and a diving attempt from Loftin in left failed as the Tigers slugger cruised into second base with a double. So the Tigers had a bit of life for a moment. Unfortunately, Pérez fouled off a good 2-2 fastball just above the zone to stay alive, but got jammed on a fastball to bounce out to Pasquantino. That left it up to Dingler, but he couldn’t capitalize on a couple of hanging sliders and eventually flew out to Grichuk to end it.
