You could be forgiven for not watching tonight’s game for many reasons. Perhaps following weeks of dismal play, you simply couldn’t handle another disappointment. Or, perhaps and more likely still, you simply could not be bothered
to shell out your hard-earned money (in this economy?!) for an Apple TV subscription just to watch a broadcast LITERALLY filmed on iPhones. All valid reasons. So if you didn’t tune in tonight, we’ve got you covered as the Tigers headed into their final series of the regular season, in Boston against the Red Sox. Casey Mize got starting duties for the Tigers, while Kyle Harrison was on the mound for the Red Sox.
Now, last night in Cleveland, we started to see a shift from the Tigers, looking like they actually wanted to win games and keep this thing going into October. Tonight we saw more of that. Jahmai Jones got a leadoff walk in the first, followed by a Gleyber Torres single. With one out, Spencer Torkelson walked to load the bases. Unfortunately, the Tigers went on to do what they’ve been doing a bit too much of late, and they left every single one of those baserunners stranded. In the home half, Mize got the Sox to go 1-2-3, but Detroit also burned their challenge early when Wenceel Perez flew into the stands to catch a ball (and did catch it, only for it to be ruled as a non-catch and for that call to be upheld). But dang, what an effort.
In the second, the Tigers settled for a two-out single by Javier Baez, but no runs scored. The Sox got things going a little against Mize in the bottom of the inning. Masataka Yoshida singled to start things off, then with two outs Nathaniel Lowe doubled. But even with two runners in scoring position, the Red Sox also failed to get any runs in.
In a copy/paste of the second inning, the Tigers got but one baserunner in the third, and it was Spencer Torkelson on a two-out single. Thankfully, the Red Sox also suck at scoring runs tonight and went three-up, three-down in the home half.
The fourth was when we finally got things going in a positive direction (ie, the direction of players actually clearing the final 90 feet between third base and home). Andy Ibanez got a leadoff walk. Then we got back-to-back-to-back singles from Dillon Dingler, Parker Meadows, and Javier Baez, bringing Ibanez in to score and loading the bases. A Jahmai Jones double then brought two more runs in to give the Tigers a 3-0 lead.
That was it for Harrison, who was replaced by Justin Slaten. Slaten gave up a walk to Wenceel Perez and collected two outs, but he was then pulled for Steven Matz, who got the final out of the inning. In the home half, Alex Bregman got a ground-rule double to start things off, and maybe it’s petty to point this out, but he could not have done that if the Tigers had signed him during last offseason. Yoshida then singled to bring Bregman home and get the Sox on the board. Three outs followed, but the gap was down to 3-1.
Onto the fifth, where Dingler got a one-out single. With two outs, the Red Sox made yet another pitching change, bringing in Greg Weissert, who got the final out of the inning, but only after a passed ball allowed Dingler to get to second, so he could be stranded on base while in scoring position. Mize was back in his groove in the bottom of the inning, though, getting the Sox three-up, three-down.
The Tigers went 1-2-3 in the top of the sixth. In the home half, the Red Sox did the same. Wish we’d seen more of this Casey Mize in the middle of the season, but we’ll take it.
Zack Kelly was next out of the Red Sox pen, and it was a short inning as Spencer Torkelson singled, but then got eliminated in a double-play off the bat of Riley Greene, then an Andy Ibanez lineout ended the inning. In the home half, Yoshida got a leadoff single, then with one out Ceddanne Rafaela doubled to put two runners in scoring position. That was it for Mize, who was replaced by Kyle Finnegan. Mize’s final line for the game was 6.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K on 80 pitches. A sac fly by Lowe brought in one more run (reflected in Mize’s final line above), but Finnegan did get control of the inning before the Sox were able to make things any worse. Now repeat after me, Tigers: insurance runs save games.
The Red Sox continued their quest to use every reliever they have in a single game by bringing in Garrett Whitlock. The Tigers did not manage to get any insurance runs, or, indeed, a single baserunner. In the bottom of the inning Carlos Narvaez hit a leadoff single. Nate Eaton was brought in to pinch-run, then stole second, he was then able to advance to third on a throwing error. A Jarren Duran single then brought him home to tie the game up. A double-play and strikeout ended the inning, but the Tigers were definitely in trouble.
Aroldis Chapman came in to pitch in the ninth and gave up a leadoff double to a pinch-hitting Justyn-Henry Malloy. The top of the ninth was evidently not when the Tigers would decide to stage a comeback, though, as the next three batters went down in order. Tommy Kahnle came in for the bottom of the ninth to hopefully save the day and get the game into extras. That did not happen. What did happen was a one-out single by Romy Gonzalez, followed by a triple from Rafaela to walk-off the game.
The only positive of this was that Cleveland lost to the Rangers, so the postion atop the AL Central remains unchanged.
