Detroit – The Detroit Tigers, collectively, don’t think this way. It’s a genuine attribute that’s been engrained in the soul of the team.
They don’t look behind. They don’t look ahead. They play the game that’s on the schedule that day and put all their focus into that. You can call it cliche if you want, but they’ve not wavered from that mindset in two years.
But if they did look ahead, they’d realize they are in a stretch where they can really cement themselves at the top of the Central Division and enhance their seeding in the American League. Their 6-3 win at Comerica Park Monday night is the first of seven they will play against the woebegone Minnesota Twins in the next two weeks.
They will also play three against the last place White Sox and three against 54-58 Angels.
But, again, that’s for us to look at, not them.
“I think it goes back to that AJ (Hinch) thing, you know, just win today’s game,” said right-hander Casey Mize who made three mistakes in six quality innings and earned his 10th win of the season. “I’m not sure we’re caring who we play, where we play them or what they did at the trade deadline or whatever.
“We’re just going out to compete, compete hard and win.”
It took a minute for the compete button to function Monday. A little bleary after some late night travel from Philadelphia Sunday night and stymied by rookie right-hander Travis Adams, they slugged themselves awake in the middle innings to overtake the Twins.
“We had not seen (Adams) before,” Hinch said. “He’s got a fast arm, a lot of stuff coming at you and he pitches with a lot of energy. And we were missing everything early. But the at-bats got better.”
Adams, who had made four relief appearances, was making his first big-league start, struck out five of the first six hitters and faced the minimum 12 through four innings.
But with one on and one out in the fifth, Wenceel Perez went down and lifted a low slider into the right field seats to tie the game. It was third homer in his last 12 at-bats.
“Such a big at-bat to get us back tied,” said Kerry Carpenter, who would deliver the knockout punch an inning later.
It was Perez’s ninth home on the year in 197 plate appearances. It took him 425 plate appearances to hit his ninth last year.
“He’s been consistent and he can do a lot of different things,” Hinch said. “When the power shows up, it’s great. But the bat-to-ball skills are really good and he’s always got the platoon advantage (because he’s a switch-hitter). He plays good defense, there’s always a bounce in his step — he does something to help every day.
“Even on his quiet days, he can do something to help you win.”
The Tigers were down 3-2 in the sixth and facing another unfamiliar right-hander, Noah Davis. The Twins traded away 11 players, including eight pitchers at the deadline. So the Tigers are going to face a lot of unfamiliar pitchers.
They scratched out the tying run on singles by Javier Baez and Colt Keith and a ground out by Gleyber Torres.
And that set the stage for some Kerry Bonds theatrics. The crowd of 24,018 was on its feet chanting, “Kerr-y, Kerr-y.” Carpenter got ahead 2-0 and then obliterated a sinker. He sent it on a high arc, 437 feet deep into the seats in right field.
It very nearly got into the second deck.
“No, I don’t have that kind of pop,” Carpenter said with a smile. “I’ve got decent. I think Riley (Greene) has second-deck in there, but not me.”
Carpenter said he heard the crowd, but he’d cleared the mechanism and was locked in on the 2-0 pitch.
“I heard it but I don’t pay attention too much,” Carpenter said. “It was pretty cool, though. Riley told me they were doing that. Pretty special.”
It was homer No. 19 for Carpenter and it gave the Tigers all the cushion they needed.
“That team is fighting over there,” Carpenter said of the Twins. “And to be able to pull away in the sixth and take the lead for good, that was nice.”
Catcher Dillon Dingler greeted former Tiger Erasmo Ramirez with a first-pitch home run to left field in the seventh, his 10th, giving the Tigers six players with double-digit homers this season.
“Just a lot of energy,” Hinch said, of Carpenter’s blast. “And a big separator for us to be able to have a little breathing room. We all ride that rollercoaster of emotion at the beginning of the game. It was low energy because nothing was going on. We weren’t doing anything until the middle of the game.”
For Mize, it was his best game in a month, a quality start after three rocky outings. He was mostly in the strike zone with his entire arsenal, mixing splitters and an array of different slider shapes and speeds off a 94-95 mph four-seam fastball.
He allowed just four hits. But three of them were, well, loud. And they left him with a sour taste.
“It’s conflicting emotions for me,” said Mize. “Did some better things. I started to command the fastball better as the game went on and I’m pleased with that. I commanded the slider really well, too. Just made mistakes with the splitter and that’s what really frustrates me. When I throw that pitch where I want, I’m getting really positive results.
“But I’m leaving it over the heart of the plate too much right now.”
Mize surrendered three solo home runs, none of them wall-scrapers.
▶Ryan Jeffers launched a sinker 420 feet to center field in the first inning.
▶Trevor Larnach sent an 0-2, center-cut splitter 434 feet to right in the sixth.
▶Matt Wallner blasted another mislocated splitter 437 feet into the shrubbery in centerfield in the sixth.
“I just talked to Casey,” Hinch said. “You don’t get to be mad after a win, right? We shouldn’t be. Casey did his job. If you start the day and say you’re going six innings with three runs or less, it’s a good day.”
Solo homers don’t beat you, the saying goes. And the Tigers’ bullpen made sure that old adage rang true.
Brant Hurter, Tommy Khanle and Kyle Finnegan strung three straight zeros to finish the game. For Finnegan, it was his 22nd save, second with the Tigers and first at Comerica Park.
“That was exciting,” he said. “I had chills coming in in the ninth. It was great to feel the crowd behind you and feel that energy and use it to your advantage.”
Finnegan, an All-Star, has been closing games for five seasons. But he admitted, going from the last-place Nationals to the first-place Tigers has given him a boost.
“You try to tell yourself that every game matters the same,” he said. “But it feels different. This is a first-place team trying to maintain one of the better records in the league. I wanted it bad.”
@cmccosky
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