MLB Network breaks down AL-leading Detroit Tigers beat Orioles 5-3 behind Spencer Torkelson homers

MLB Network breaks down AL-leading Detroit Tigers beat Orioles 5-3 behind Spencer Torkelson homers

thank you Johnny Spencer third time through the order for Cade Pavich and you guys were able to do some damage you had a nice long atbat against him in the top of the fifth that ended with the homer just how’d you stay in that at bat and ultimately end it the way you did yeah two unbelievable at bats before me i mean Greeny hitting that double ding getting sawed off a little bit but fighting for that single and then uh yeah they they had great at bats so I could get that mistake how much does that help when you kind of get to sit knowing you’re coming up and watch your teammates see a lot of pitches and put together at bats like that oh that’s that’s everything you know uh I definitely want to hit that inning uh Green did his part ding did his part and I did my part okay i have to know when you guys are in the dugout if you’re on base if you’re in the on deck circle and Zack McKinstry is at the plate do you just automatically think “Okay this is going to be a triple.” Yeah pretty much i mean I don’t know how he does it i’m a little jealous uh no he’s he’s unbelievable uh any ball that really gets hit to the outfield with him you you kind of figure he’d end up on third base have you ever played with a player that seems like not only is he thinking three but he’s able to get to three more often than not i play with a lot of people that that tried for three they didn’t but Zmac tries and and achieves how impressed have you been just with especially the back end of your bullpen when you have Tommy Kaneley will vest coming in in whatever order they do come in and really being able to shut it down for you guys yeah all the trust in the world and in every single arm that comes that sets the rubber um but yeah I mean our they’re they’re Bulldogs and uh we love playing behind them we’re calling today Torque Bomb Tuesday is that good with you yeah thanks Torque appreciate it yeah of course that a boy Torque with that i’m good with that i’m good with it johnny Kane Dan Petra here with you for postgame edition of Tigers Live love seeing Spencer Torus with the smile tonight he’s been smiling all season uh for good reason but I’ll tell you what 18 and4 now in series openers is this team and when you watch this team play it’s like they square the ball they’re out of the box there’s intent on the base path this is a well put together team yes and it only seems like it’s getting better and it’s getting stronger because you’ve got some pieces that are being readded to the lineup uh hopefully Matt Beerling can get back and get going again and getting a a prolonged uh you know uh at bats and and time in the field and everything but it’s starting to all come together get pieced together the starting pitching slowly but surely is getting a little bit better and you’re right it just seems like it’s getting better all the time yeah it’s just crisp you know like everything’s crisp you know anyway fun game to watch obviously uh and credit to Baltimore has been playing a lot better here of late uh to make it a game late but Tigers were able to break this thing open break the game open uh in the fifth inning that’s going to be our exfinity high-speed highlights and you heard Torque talking about it yes he had the big swing but a couple of really good ABS that inning well that’s the thing they always just not taking all the credit there giving the focus to other people but you’re right all with two outs that’s the thing sometimes you just think well we got two outs what’s going to happen well Riley Green in that number three hole gets it started with that double and you’re thinking okay well wait a minute maybe we can just pick up a run if somebody bluffs bloops one in and can score Riley that’ll be a great thing cuz this is just a two to one game at that time and then Dylan Dingler hitting fourth and they were trying to pitch him away he gets one in and fights it off right down there to drive Riley and you’re thinking that away pick up a two out run that’s beautiful and then Tort coming up here and having one of those great at bats balon off several pitches until he gets that four seam fast povich just says you know I’m tired of this and I’m just going to come right after him and just Cowser almost comes up with that ball and that big two-run blast what a what a big uh hit that was zack M Zack Mckitby followed with a triple right after that thinking hey I’m not done either but look at these numbers i mean at where he is among first baseman and again I mean you can’t be happier for him i mean being challenged and Cole Keith moving over basically taking away his job and then he fought like crazy and then look at the numbers he’s putting up and just enjoying every bit of it and again having fun playing baseball again and that’s the thing right I mean that’s you know but that’s the beauty a guy that willing to put in the work he had a brilliant spring put in the work he comes out and it was like he kept it right here so people on the outside can say well I don’t know if he’ll ever get back to you know the 31 homers he didn’t get a couple seasons back he’s on pace for 40 you know what I’m He’s on pace for 40 15 homers 30 extra base hits 45 RBI’s in the American League aaron Judge is on has done that uh Cal Rowley’s done it and Taylor Ward out in Anaheim and Torque it it takes a while it it does i mean you can have a big season like he did but again you know the pitchers are always adjusting and you you have to adjust back but again these guys are young and you got to just give it a little bit of a time they’re going to have a little bit of this until they get a little more comfortable in their own skin and then they take off just like Torque’s doing this year so Torque got it going today you know who else had it going you mentioned uh Zack McKinstry talk about being comfortable in his own skin oh boy this guy I mean I just love watching it’s like poetry in motion when he gets going he’s like he just kind of gets those shoulders back and he’s cooking you know what and he did it away from Kame Park too but again a lefty i mean I I think most years he wouldn’t have played against the lefty but he stays on that gets that pitch and then lines it down the right field line but I just love the way he runs the bases look at those hands just chugging those arms but the way he cuts the bases that allows him to get into uh into third base just very very easy then the second one this is where Cowser after getting that almost robbing the home run very next one he’s just saying “Oh my gosh you’re picking on me again.” Tries to make another fine play comes up a little bit short zack McKinstry’s going “Oh yeah i know how to do this i know how to sneak over to third base nothing to it.” There he is look at where he is amongst the leaders but I just love both of them off a left-handed pitcher yeah no it’s a great point gets the one in the second the other in the fifth seven triples for Zack McKinstry that’s a careerhigh and again we still got 100 games to go here and look at the names on this list i mean that’s that’s impressive stuff for a guy who’s who could play every day plays a bunch but not necessarily slotted in you know to this your designated position you’re going to play here i mean Zmax’s kind of one of those versatile guys the jacks of all and obviously the speed on the base pass kills and and you know we’re talking about just how they’re getting better and better all the time but there’s so many valuable pieces i mean we’re talking about you know all these guys that have had good good years but Zack McKinstry is another valuable piece that you can’t take out because what he’s doing at the plate but also all the positions he’s playing around the field 100% the last Tiger to lead the American League in triples Nick Costanos back in 2017 he had 10 on the season and uh Zmac on pace to obliterate that mark okay let’s talk about the pitching approach right what did we call it last year pitching chaos you know and Tigers weren’t the first team in baseball to you know to come up with the con concept of opener bulk guy now the wrinkle today was when we saw Chase Lee come in in between Herurder uh and Sawyer Gibson Long but this Brand Herder you talk about another guy that you can’t pull out of the equation the weapon that is Brandt Herder who gave him two and two/3s today to get this thing started you know I am a huge huge Brand Herder fan and this is just one of those sly moves by AJ Hinch with thinking Sawyer Gibson long you know on an off day Orioles are thinking I’m going to get Sawyer Gibson long nope and threw the change up at him and threw Grant herder and what a job he did in that in that opener position win about 45 pitches and then big right-handed bat came in after uh Gunner Henderson got a base hit in off of Herder comes in and gets that strike out he’s the only batter that Chase Lee would face but Chase Lee ends up getting the win then Sawyer Gibson Long comes in and just so much improved over that first start uh against the White Socks the velocity on all of his pitches had jumped that four seam fast was up to 95 mph but this change up was really really devastating to the left-handed uh uh hitters and then Tommy Canley come in got one big out i mean he fell behind 3-0 and uh to Ryan O’Harn and got maybe a little bit of a break uh on a three- 0 pitch that was called a strike but came back to to strike out the tying run in O’Harn and then Will Vest even though he gave up that home run came in and picked up the save so just another really good example of getting that uh that opener that primary and just uh five pitches to take that first game of the series yeah special stuff will Vest picking up his 11th save of the season and again you bridge it to get there with the efforts of Tommy Kanley and then quickly before I let you go just with Sawyer Gibson Long you know he looked like the Sawyer Gibson Long of September of 2023 when he came up made those four starts uh six up six down 18 pitches through his first two innings settles in and then you know four dominant innings uh until the Gunnar Henderson obviously the double to break up his his scoreless effort but I I really only throwing 51 pitches today they’re managing as he comes back remember 615 days in between big league appearances from when he went on had the elbow injury and the hip surgery um but this is another key component for this Tigers rotation where they slot him how they slot him uh but he is dangerous he he and he threw a lot of strikes first pitch strikes and a lot of strikes overall and really again it was just a genius move to me because Brandt Hurder is going to probably follow Sawyer Gibson long to in the game so wait a minute why don’t I just start him let him go you know face all those left-handed hitters then Sawyer Gibson Long can get deep in the game i was kind of hoping he’d finish the game i thought about that i was ran out of gas yeah I ran out of gas a little bit 51 pitches 40 of those for strikes to your point and again because of this left-handed dominant lineup that Baltimore trouts out there five lefties they got a switch hitter in there as well uh her pitches so well against lefties and it was like hey he was going so you just let him go uh and then chase to get to Sawyer anyway great uh great pushing the keys there by AJ Hinch to uh to manage this the way that he did to handle that uh that rotation the way that he did or the pitching staff I should say all right Dan Petri I will see you tomorrow you got it yeah I look forward to it as well we’re talking about another a big outing by Casey Mise better believe it all right let’s head downstairs we’re going to hear from AJ Hinch manager of press conference brought to you by Blue Moon the way the way we talked about the game getting into it and getting a runway for Sawyer he kind of took that run with it didn’t he he was incredible uh I thought Herder was really good too and and and obviously Tommy getting out of his inning chase got his out uh Will came in and closed the door so I a really good day on the mound but it does start with Herder getting in and handing the ball to uh to Sawyer in a good place and then Sawyer was was really incredible you had a lot of your four your five runs were two outs torque hits two strike pitch two out knock i mean that’s the kind of thing we’ve been seeing but that’s that’s not normal for teams to have that much do that much damage it was Yeah no I mean obviously we’re we’re we’re going to play the whole at bat i mean it’s you know we do have a pretty resilient group um we did put some good swings together and we put some good innings together maybe when you least expect it so you don’t always have to um you know get the leadoff runner on you got to stay in the inning and come up with some big swings and and the inning continued so getting into their pen three game series you know obviously both sides used a little bit of bullpen but um to separate ourselves and get some key you know two out hits or two strike hits uh that’s winning baseball whether you were able to use Herder to get through Henderson the second time just how important is that for a guy like Sawyer coming in when he did in the moment of the game to kind of Yeah I mean Sawyer can handle it like listen I don’t want to It’s not a knock on Sawyer for why we wanted to do this it’s more pro herder in in the things that he can do against this lineup that’s predominantly left-handed and you know and they that’s the right matchup so Sawyer can get these guys out he showed that tonight but but obviously you know we wanted a clean inning for him so so Chase had to come in and get the one out but um Sawyer’s pitch efficient usually i mean I’m sorry her pitch efficient usually which allows me to extend him as long as we want and we we can’t forget this guy could start you know on a lot of teams and he may start down the road but it it it shows because he pounds the strike zone and then what made you know Sawyer so affected too especially second time coming back from you know two major surgeries like he’s been really good yeah i mean up to 96 nasty cutter nasty change occasional slider very pitch efficient i think the the last inning was his toughest inning but it was only like 12 or 13 pitches they were swinging early and the ball moves and he controlled contact so if it wasn’t have been for the eighth inning you know which I’m sure comes you know comes with a little bit of of nerves maybe not but that handing the ball to Tommy was the only reason he really came out of the game he had plenty of pitches and I really wanted him to finish the game but obviously wanted him to secure the win the game you’re getting out of Bayas wherever you’re playing this year huh yeah we’re you know we’re we’re just asking guys to contribute to a win and and a guy like Jav um who’s been the centerpart of a lot of teams that he’s been on can can be just one of the guys you know whether it’s the bottom of the order and getting a key hit or he made some some you know maybe non-spectacular but really above average plays on defense pretty good i mean he’s he’s he’s contributing to a win um almost every game that he plays so he doesn’t have to carry us we got a we have a true team and a lot of guys that can do it um but when he adds something to the mix you know we usually win what’s the How were you able to get Brent Herder into the game the way that you did and it feels like the the plan kind of went accordingly from there yeah so um I guess with the construction of their lineup um you know that was the plan going into it to uh go about one time through and end with one of the uh one of the righties to bring in Sawyer well we ended up bringing in Chase but then um you know ultimately bringing in Sor and you know hey Evie he did a great job like he’s done all year you know mixing the mixing the sinker with the slider against the lefties and then you know how we attack righties but you know Grant’s been awesome all year obviously Sawyer’s coming off a pretty extensive injury a couple injuries but his second appearance just what did you see from him that improved even from the last start his his stuff was night and day better and I’m not I’m not saying that his stuff last time wasn’t cuz it really was but the the leap that he made from last start this start was incredible i mean the shapes on his fast ball were completely different his sinker was sinking his change up be a great feel for his change up i know we didn’t throw the slider all that much but I mean he’s got to be happy with that i know his fastball is up significantly from where it was in 23 i think it was like some 96s in there but he has got elite extension too like what does that look like kind of coming from home plate it’s heavy i would consider it heavy um which ultimately it’s one of those things you can’t really compute it’s more so the feel of the hitter you know it feels like everything’s coming at you and it feels like it’s you know hits the bat hard um that’s all I can say like especially with the extension everything’s just coming at you all the different shapes and it’s hard to hit what is it like to be able to kind of I mean obviously this team like kind of got popular for pitching chaos in the playoffs last year but to be able to have that in your bag like how how clutch is that to have it when you need it yeah it’s huge it’s huge it’s not it’s not something crazy you know that um cuz obviously people don’t people don’t open up really um it’s it’s not traditional so uh yeah the fact that we can throw Scubble throw Casey throw Jack out there for seven eight and then the next day throw you know a couple ends or a couple arms before we get to the bulk guy oh it’s it’s it’s a completely different look it doesn’t allow the guys to get comfortable [Music] it’s all rust now okay whose head shall I take [Music] i hear the innocent cry out dark [Music] [Music] light becomes hope [Music] i’ll stand without [Music] [Music] die or something this is going to take die or something i love a challenge well that happens doctor died [Music] i know [Music] [Music] i’m here [Music]

MLB Network breaks down AL-leading Detroit Tigers beat Orioles 5-3 behind Spencer Torkelson homers