As if Detroit’s sweep at the hands of the Athletics wasn’t frustrating enough, the team lost their entire off day waiting for a plane delay. Apparently they spent much of Wednesday stranded on the tarmac due to mechanical issues. That didn’t exactly bode well for them snapping a four-game losing streak on Friday night.
Well, no one said this was supposed to be easy. That weird off day didn’t stop the team from showing up ready to play ball at Kauffman Stadium tonight. Detroit won 5-3, in a memorable
game from Riley Greene, Kyle Finnegan, and manager A.J. Hinch who had to navigate nearly six innings of relief work.
Royals starting pitcher Seth Lugo has struggled in the first inning this season, and after getting two outs to start tonight’s game, he found himself in more early-game trouble. Kerry Carpenter walked on four pitches, Riley Greene pounced for a first-pitch single, and Spencer Torkelson walked to load the bases. The threat reached a boiling point when Wenceel Pérez worked a 3-0 count against Lugo, but Lugo proceeded to climb all the way back into the at-bat and strike Pérez out, stranding three.
In the bottom of the first inning, Mike Yastrzemski took Chris Paddack’s first pitch of the game and deposited it into the right-center field seats. Bobby Witt Jr. followed Yastrzemski with a hard-hit single of his own, and after a Vinnie Pasquatino line-out and a wild pitch put Witt Jr. on second with one out, Maikel Garcia sent a second home run into the left-center field seats, giving the Royals a 3-0 lead. Fetter navigated through the inning from there, but did allow Adam Frazier to double and reach scoring position.
The Tigers offense had Paddack’s back in the top of the second inning. Once again with two outs and nobody on, Detroit loaded the bases on back-to-back-to-back singles by Javier Báez, Colt Keith, and Gleyber Torres. Kerry Carpenter then put Detroit on the board with a single of his own, scoring Báez and Keith and cutting the deficit to one. Riley Greene struck out to end the inning, leaving Detroit down 3-2.
Despite his 4 WHIP first inning, Chris Paddack settled in for the second and third innings, putting Detroit in position to take the lead in the fourth inning. With one out and nobody on, Gleyber Torres and Kerry Carpenter notched their second singles of the night, respectively, setting up a Riley Greene two-RBI double to put Detroit up 4-3. This double put Greene at 32 home runs and 100 RBI (!) on the season. Greene is the fifth player in MLB this season to reach 100 RBI, and the first Tiger to reach 100+ RBI since Nick Castellanos in 2017.
Lugo was pulled for the night following Greene’s milestone double, and Paddack’s leash was short on the night, as well. Despite Paddack retiring nine of the last ten players he faced, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch signaled for Tyler Holton two outs into the bottom of the fourth. (A few of those final nine outs were particularly well-struck; Wenceel Pérez made an excellent catch at the center field wall on one of them.)
Holton retired Michael Massey to end the inning, and after a quiet top of the fifth for the bottom-third of Detroit’s lineup, Holton returned to retire Kyle Isbel and Bobby Witt Jr. From there, it was Holton’s turn to get into trouble, walking Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquatino to bring up Maikel Garcia. Hinch once again turned to the bullpen, bringing in Troy Melton to safely close the frame.
Following another 1-2-3 inning for Tigers hitters, Troy Melton found himself in a high-leverage jam in the bottom of the sixth inning, putting Adam Frazier on third and Michael Massey on first. Kyle Isbel proceeded to give Melton’s fastball a ride to deep right field, but Kerry Carpenter jumped to catch Isbel’s 367-foot fly-out with his back just in front of the right-field wall. (It was an excellent night for Detroit’s outfield positioning, per usual.)
The seventh inning was perhaps the most challenging and most impressive inning that the Tigers had to overcome this evening. Mike Yastrzemski doubled to open the frame, and after Bobby Witt Jr. advanced Yastrzemski to third on a fly-out, Kyle Finnegan relieved Troy Melton to face the heart of the Kansas City lineup. On eight splitters, two sliders, and zero fastballs, Finnegan struck out Vinnie Pasquatino swinging, walked Maikel Garcia on four non-competitive balls low and outside, and yielded a Salvador Perez ground-out to escape the jam.
Dillon Dingler rewarded Finnegan’s effort with a little extra run support: his twelfth home run of the year, putting Detroit up 5-3.
Finnegan returned the favor with a 1-2-3 inning, retiring Adam Frazier, Jonathan India, and Michael Massey and striking the latter two out swinging. Finnegan and again, the Tigers are receiving everything they hoped for from their primary trade deadline acquisition.
Will Vest received the save opportunity tonight. A quick single from Kyle Isbel brought the tying run to the plate in the form of Mike Yastrzemski, who walked up to the plate already 3-4 on the night. Yastrzemski drew a 3-0 count, swung on 3-0, and grounded into a double play.
Tigers win, snap their four-game skid, and now sit at 79-57 on the season. They are now 9.5 games up in the division, and still basically tied with Toronto for best record in the American League. There is still home field advantage and the first round bye to play for, however, and the Tigers will need all the help they can get in October. So these games still matter plenty.
Tomorrow night, Jack Flaherty will attempt to redeem his eight earned run effort against these same Royals just a week ago. New Royals starting pitcher Stephen Kolek, recently acquired from San Diego, will face Flaherty in his Kansas City debut.
