MLB Network | Carlos Pena breaks down AL-leading Detroit Tigers beat Royals 7-5 for 5th straight win

MLB Network | Carlos Pena breaks down AL-leading Detroit Tigers beat Royals 7-5 for 5th straight win

Spencer Torqulson two for five today with two big RBI in this game including that homer in the eighth inning. Torque. It looked like in that at bat you got a pitch that you wanted back that you did not hit the way you did a couple pitches later. What were you looking for that you ultimately sent over the fences? Uh yeah. Well with him I knew his change ups his best pitch. Uh I was really just trying to get something up. Uh I missed a cookie 3-1. Um, I took my shot there and then it was just choke and poke, try to get the try to get the bat on the ball and he gave me a good pitch to hit and that’s what happened. Well, you sent that one 436 ft, which is your longest of the season. Describe how a a shot like that feels off the bat. Uh, you don’t feel much and uh it feels good cuz I I mean I wasn’t trying to do that. Uh, but yeah, I mean, you don’t feel a whole lot. It’s the greatest feeling in the world, though. This team seems to come up with big hits and big moments again and again. You did it today. Dylan Dingler did it today. Riley Green gets things going. How have you seen this team thrive in those moments? Yeah, I feel like we just uh we keep the line moving. Oh, fireworks started. But uh yeah, we just keep the line moving. We we believe in each other and um we’re just trying to get good pitches to hit. We got a great team approach. All right, Torque, I’ll let you go before these fireworks get started. Thank you. Cool. No problem. Thanks. Hey, let the show begin. Johnny Kane, Carlos Pñena with you for a postgame edition of Tigers Live. You like that little choke and poke? You feel nothing. That’s great right there. Even him saying, “I wasn’t even trying to do that.” And then he goes and says, “The fireworks are are already starting.” I’m like, “No, Torque. Actually, you started the fart fireworks a lot earlier than that. That was an eighth inning. Gave him the queue.” Uh, that was big time from Torque. So, he had his longest home run of the season. Riley Green had his longest home run of the season as well. Torque got him by a couple of feet. But, let’s go back to the Spencer Torres uh homer because three home runs in this game by the Tigers. Look, I I thought that, you know, we thought that maybe, you know, Lugo, Seth Lugo would pitch a little deeper into the ball game. Uh, but they were able to chase him after three and a third and then did damage against the bullpen. Obviously, Torque doing it against Andrew Hoffman. But these Tigers bats, I mean, time and time again, they take a look at the pad, they have a plan, they go out and execute the plan and Torque did so. I I’m glad you bring up the plan, right? cuz I was down there with the Tigers in the tunnel and they were having a meeting and I remember AJ Hinn just walking by and he goes, “Hey, we’re going to get cutters and if you’re a lefty, you’re going to get a cutter in.” Guess what? Riley Green hit out of the ballpark first pitch. Cutter inside, elevated. Did not miss it. He was ready for it looking for it. Then you hear Torque talk about approach, approach, approach. I knew his change up was his best pitch. That’s the pitch he hit out for a home run as well. This is not by chance. This is by design. They have a plan and when you have a plan and then you go out and execute it, you get the results that you want. That’s our FanDuel game summary. There it is. Letting the bullpen know, I see you out there. And that gave the Tigers a little breathing room, a little cushion because this game just kept going back and forth. You never felt like totally comfortable. In fact, I was taking a lap around Coffin Stadium and I ran into an old buddy of mine from Kansas City and Torque hits that homer. He’s like, “You guys got to stop scoring runs.” I say, “Well, talk to me about it.” You know what I mean? These guys, they show up to the plate every day. And I think, like you said, you got to have a plan. You got to execute a plan. A lot of everybody has a plan. You know, we talk a lot about um never giving away at bats, right? And I think the Tigers did a good job of that because getting a little bit of cushion, it gives a game a lot more flexibility. And at the end of the day, get guess how much that really translates for next week. You don’t have to tax the bullpen. It’s it’s awesome. if the offense is able to focus on having a good process every single time they go up to the plate. Well, the thing about like so Torque’s having a a magical year. Uh Riley Green’s having a great year. We’ll get to him in a second, but like Dylan Dingler, okay, Dylan Dingler, another three hit night tonight. Like not only is he calling a great game and obviously, you know, had to catch five relievers after Casey M, but he went out, he had a plan and he leaves the yard as well. It’s like, you know, this guy’s bringing something. young player in the game and the one thing that’s that you always hear AJ talk about is like how much he spends studying getting ready right so I think as a young ball player it’s kind of like okay I’m at the show I think everybody studies a little bit but it’s like he wants to be elite and most people would say okay catch a great game catch a win and then whatever you give us offensively is a bonus that’s part of yeah he doesn’t think that way it’s part of what I’m bringing he really wants to contribute offensively and right there ready for his fast ball he got it and he got the head out this all about timing and let me prove it to you. That looks like he’s just hitting off the tea. Yeah, that a foreseen fast ball. Yeah, it’s center cut, but he is so ready for it. He’s in cadence with the pitch and now he takes his best hack at it. There’s no overswing in there. He’s not pulling off. It almost seems like he was just meeting the baseball with the barrel. And when you do that and you’re that strong, I mean, that ball got out of here in a hurry in a hurry. Send it into the bullpen. All right, let’s go back to the first inning because Dingler hits his in the second, but you talked about it. Riley Green first pitch he sees in the first inning against Seth Lugo. By the way, Riley comes into this game 0 for 10 against Lugo. Not that that’s a huge sample size, but that’s enough meetings to where you’re like, “Okay, this guy’s got something.” But first pitch he sees, here’s what I’m hunting. Here’s what I’m going to do. It’s our Expinity high-speed highlight. You said it. Hunting. That’s the word. That’s the key operating word there. He was hunting cutter inside. That was a great pitch by Luggo. It really was. But it was better hitting by Riley Green. That’s up and in. 92 mph cutter designed to break bats, designed to get swings and misses. Yet Riley Green was ready for it and punished the baseball. That was a long one. That was big time. Yeah. Two-run homer for the Tigers. That kind of got him started. And then really this bullpen like as a whole, you you give up one run. Well, two runs I guess cuz they got the one late. But you give up two runs, a couple of hits, and you’re going six and two/3. Again, if you’re going to be the top team, especially in this division, you’re going to need everybody to do their part. So, hitters are doing their part, right? You know, double- digit hits and and and they score enough tonight. Seven runs is enough to get it done. And then you say, “Okay, Casey M didn’t get as deep as he would have wanted to.” I’m sure we’ll hear from him in just a second. Uh he didn’t pitch terribly, but then you say, “Okay, we got to lean on the pen. Okay, Herder. Okay, Hannity.” Yeah. Unbelievable. And then you just keep going down the line and it’s like these guys are like, “Okay, give me the ball. I’ll give you an inn.” Unbelievable to have that luxury, right? to understand that you can pass the baton and things will be taken care of, right? Uh that that is huge. And if you’re going to advance deep into a postseason, if you’re going to get to the postseason and then advance, you need these guys to just show up and do their job today was masterful. So, they now pick up Casey’s uh difficult night, right? But Casey left with the lead and they were able to sustain the lead. And then you add the offense, perfect formula. Yeah, I said six and two/3, five and two/3. I’m working on my math, Carlos. I said nine innings minus 3.1. Uh, but then Tommy Kley coming in doing the job here. So, it’s Herder, Hannipy, Brrisy, Kanley, and then Will Vest coming in just throwing smoke, which he does. Another strike out for Will Vest there against Sal Perez and then able to get the final out of the ball game. It’s big time stuff, man. And now, you know, so, okay, so the bullpen, you know, gets a little usage tonight, but they’re coming off the off day. And then you say, okay, so what’s going to be available tomorrow? You say, we don’t need anybody because TKO’s pitching tomorrow. And last time he was like, Skip, save the pen. I got you. I got nine. Yeah. How how huge is that, right? He did it last time. Of course, you go into a game understanding that there is a possibility that you’re going to have to go to the bullpen always. Sure. Right. However, what a luxury to have, you know, Scuba go out there and pitch the way he did last time. I mean, it’s almost as if we’ve come to expect him to do it every single time he takes the mound. It’s really not fair. But I just saw him in the tunnel today and he was just cool, calm, and collected. Just another day. It’s a walk in the park. Yeah, it’s no big deal. Now, I don’t, you know, now he may want to pitch another complete game next time out. I mean, if he’s around 94 pitches again, maybe he gets an opportunity again tomorrow, but we don’t want to get the heart the cart ahead of the horse here. All right, let’s uh let’s head downstairs. We hear from AJ Hinch, the manager postgame press conference brought to you by Blue Moon. AJ, you just kind of described that win as a grinded out style win. What did you like about the way your team was able to do that today? Um, you know, I do like that we stayed in there and and chipped away on offense. Um, we made just enough plays on defense. Our pitching really did hang in there. We were had guys on base uh against us all night. Um we went through a lot of relievers, but you know, it was a a good um a good win to start the series. Wasn’t exactly Casey’s night. What did he struggle with in this outing? Yeah, he didn’t he didn’t look um completely right the entire night. Just like he was battling himself a little bit the early count or sorry, early inning uh barrels and then and then he just couldn’t quite land a breaking ball when he wanted to and and he felt like he was chasing something even though we had the lead. So, um, got him out of there when we when we got the third time through to to, uh, the middle part of their order, but it, you know, he just kind of had an off night of not executing and not having his best stuff and gave us what he could. How big was Brent Herder, not just getting out of the the one inning, but getting through to the bottom of the order. So, you had the right-handers get hand to feet to start the next one. Yeah, I mean, obviously Herder’s been really good for us when I when I bring him in. You know, you don’t really expect to get out of that inning unscathed. I mean, it was a tough ask. Um we’ve had a couple of those innings the last couple games. So it’s it’s not a way we’re going to live, but it it’s nice when it works out that way. He gets you go one batter at a time. Uh we were able to pitch around Salvi and get to get to Garcia. He hits the fly ball. Like that inning really settled us in. And then when when Herder can end his inning um you know at the at the bottom of that order, we have Hannify up in case they pinch hit. So we have the counter, we have the guy on the mound that we want um in the matchup and and we need our guys to deliver and they did. knowing how good Lugo can be, how big were the early runs against him, especially two big. Yeah, you know, you never know when a guy comes off the injured list. Um, didn’t throw a rehab start and so what stuff is he going to have? How how much endurance does he have? He’s usually a guy that works fast. So, we talked a lot about, you know, trying to stay in control of the at bat. I mean, it’s it’s nine pitches. It’s a it’s a bunch of different speeds and and you got to get a good pitch to hit. Sometimes it comes early. So we attacked early cuz we thought that he would want to go first pitch strikes, conserve a little bit of pitches and we didn’t miss a few early. It looked like two really good at bats from Torque late for the single and then the home run. Yeah, George and I were talking on the bench how it felt like he was just, you know, right right on the cusp of of having a little bit of a breakout. It’s a great park for him. He loves hitting here. Um and he, you know, he welcomes that kid to the big leagues with a with a big home run that separates us a little bit. So, um, obviously love that that we could we could tack on there and and give Tommy and Will, uh, a little bit of breathing time, but, uh, both Torque’s ball down the line, the ball hits a homer, finds his way into a really good at bat and and delivers. To his point about just Torque’s abs, how much do you, you know, appreciate just his consistency and just staying inside the strike zone and not chasing those down and away pitches? Yeah, I I think with with guys that play as often as as Torque does or or Riley does or Glabber, I mean, you do forget how good at bats that they put up over time. I mean, they they may go into a stretch and I get asked questions about the the at bats where they struggle or maybe they don’t produce. Um, these these guys play every single day and so when they can correct on the fly by by maybe it’s a day off, maybe it’s just a few at bats, it’s a little bit of success and then you can see them take off. So, um, he’s big a big part of our order cuz he’s right in the middle of it. Um, they’re always going to, um, have to deal with him in a in a in an RBI situation. If the guys in front of him are doing, um, their job and, you know, we’re starting to get a pretty long lineup. You talk about consistency. I’m not even sure how to ask the question anymore, but Dylan Dingler continues to hit. He’s three for three, three RBI’s in big spots. Just how impressive is that stretch? Yeah, I mean, I’m not sure it’s a stretch. I kind of think it’s who he is, you know? I mean, he’s done this now for a long time. He finds a way to contribute on both sides of the ball. He’s a really good catcher. He’s he’s producing offensively. You know, he is sort of tucked away down there towards the bottom of the order and um you need big at bats at the bottom of the order to to roll the lineup over. So, he’s got power. He’s got some discipline. You walk tonight. You know, that’s a good step in the right direction. Um you know, he’s just over an overall, you know, talented player who’s who’s displaying it every night. Pretty aggressive uh pinch hit in the in the fourth inning there. just looked like a spot where you could you knew the runs were going to be maybe made maybe a lot of them you needed tonight, right? Yeah. I mean, I just I know where their bullpen’s at, you know, coming out of the last the last time. I think that that I I assumed that one of their lefties was down even though they had the day off. He had gone three in a row. So, if we’re going to get to Lynch, we’re going to have to get to him quickly because they were going to get him out of the game by the time it rolled around, maybe even to Glabber. So, you have one shot there. Um, love having Andy up there. The the best part of that is we’re versatile enough to be able to answer it defensively. Zmac can shift over to shortstop. Andy can go in at third and uh we can take a shot at having a big inning. Didn’t work out, but doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it. [Music] Postgame remarks from the manager. He he was talking about Brent Herder there and and again that was huge. He got those two huge outs uh in a one-run game. Bottom of the fourth, runners on second and third. strikes out Vinnie Pasquantino and then Mikel Garcia who’s like got a 14game hit streak going got him to fly out uh to right that kept the game right where it was but he got you know an inning in two/3s out of Brand her and then you heard him talking about Dingler again if you’re getting three hits out of your eight-hole hitter that’s pretty good just pencil that you know I’ll take it I’ll definitely take it right I mean you see the Tigers just turn over wins right and and you you’ve heard the narrative you know people out there saying look it’s it’s early right they have a really good lead it’s like no, let’s not underestimate the importance of having this type of lead this early in the season. Those wins are in the bag already. Now, in that clubhouse, they understand they have a lot of work left to do, but it’s very nice to secure the place that they’re in right now and all the W’s that been able to collect. So, having said that, now you don’t just, you know, stand back, rest on your laurels, right? You you’re going to go forward, but those are already secured. Yeah. So in essence, you’re like, “Okay, the third of the season has gone by already just about. Okay, let’s secure secure the next two or maybe let’s secure this second third because the first one is in the bag already.” This is something that we cannot understate the importance of. No, I think I’m I’m glad you bring that up, man, because I do feel like, you know, when people talk generally about Major League Baseball, it’s like, well, it’s, you know, it’s a grind. It’s a it’s a long haul. It’s a long way to go. And you’re like, I get it. Yes. But the first third is just as important as the second, third, and third. So, you know, if you’re going to get a 6 and 12 game cushion here before the, you know, the month of May is over and we’ll see what else they can do. We still got one more day tomorrow. Now, you’re eight games clear of Kansas City. Obviously, you know, Cleveland, Minnesota going to be right there probably the whole way. But you don’t downplay what you’ve accomplished. Like, well, it was early. It’s like, I know, but this is when the season started. This is when we played great, and now let’s sustain it into that second third. I thought you hit it just right. Yeah, you said it perfectly. They’re not going to rest on their laurels, but hey, we have these in the bag. Let’s now continue to work. It’s almost like a good platform to launch from. Let’s launch a new campaign. Let’s go into that second third of the season. Love it, man. You’re the best. Always a pleasure. Always a pleasure. Go to Spain. He’ll be back in action. [Music] [Music] No shadow without light. [Applause] [Music] [Music] Master initiated. Let’s admire me for a bit. Put a dent in them. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Ram is on the job. [Music] Let’s admire me for a bit. [Music] Round as I’ve always said, don’t lose tole. their [Music] forces. Leave me alone. [Music] Yeah. Oh, it’s all about Man, that’s good. [Music]

MLB Network | Carlos Pena breaks down AL-leading Detroit Tigers beat Royals 7-5 for 5th straight win

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