The Detroit Tigers took on a freefalling LA Angels team tonight. After a disappointing set against the Minnesota Twins, Detroit looked to bounce back behind their staff ace and Cy Young favorite, Tarik Skubal. He would take on Kyle Hendricks, the veteran righty who toyed with Tigers hitters on their west coast road trip back in May.
The Tigers’ get-right expedition started off with a whimper. Both teams went 1-2-3 in their first inning; Skubal started with a revenge-K of Zach Neto on three pitches. Hendricks then struck out the side, and it seemed like the fans were in for either a very short baseball game that felt very long.
In the second, LA squeaked out a run. A swinging bunt single on an 0-2 fastball and a wild pitch put Luis Rengifo in scoring position with two outs. The power-first catcher Logan O’Hoppe slugged a double into the left field corner for a 1-0 lead, and just like that, Detroit was playing from behind again. Rookie second baseman Christian Moore, of the 2024 draft, struck out to end the inning.
Spencer Torkelson promptly returned serve and deposited a hanging changeup over the left field wall for a tie game. Riley Greene finally got ahead in the count and did something with it, slashing a 1-0 changeup for a single to right. Zach McKinstry doubled him to third, and then Javy Baez blooped a two-out single to left for 2 more runs; 3-1 Tigers after 2.
The top of the third rolled around and Skubal was dealing, as Skubal is wont to do. Two strikeouts and a groundout had him out of the inning. The rookie Bryce Teodosio battled for 10 pitches before going down swinging, pushing Skubal’s pitch count to 19 for the inning.
The bottom started with a tremendous catch in CF by the same Teodosio to put away Gleyber Torres. He did trip into the wall, but after a brief concussion check, stayed in the game. Kerry Carpenter and Torkelson went quietly from there.
Skubal ran into a bit of trouble in the fourth inning. Mike Trout struck out, but Taylor Ward walked and Jo Adell singled to put two on with one out. Rengifo, the villain of the second, popped out to left and boy did he let the crowd at home know he just got under it. Cover ears on replays, if you are so inclined. Dingler then took matters into his own hands, picked off Ward at second to end the inning.
After toughing it out for an inning or two, Teodosio came out of the game. Hopefully that’s all precautionary and he comes back quickly. Greene looped a single to left field as he continued to get back on track. Maybe it’s coincidence, maybe it’s not batting cleanup, who knows. We need him. Two quick outs followed to strand him.
In the fifth, Skubal continued to look shakier than we’re used to seeing. A one-out walk, his second of the evening, and a two-strike single put two on for the defensive replacement, Gustavo Campero. In a 3-1 count, Skubal grooved a fastball up. It landed 388 feet from home plate to tie the ballgame. A near identical fastball to Neto never came back either, getting launched a whopping 421 feet away for a 4-3 Angels’ lead. An infield single to Trout ended Skubal’s night, marking the worst start of his season by far. Troy Melton was tasked with the unenviable task of leverage long relief. Ward whiffed at high heat to end it, but the damage was done and the Tigers were down. Down, but hopefully not out.
The theme of the night, outside the second, continued with two quick outs. Baez and Colt Keith both popped up, totaling four pitches, and somehow Hendricks had 55 pitches with 2 outs in the fifth. Wow. Torres then struck out on 8 pitches, and the only positive was that LA’s bullpen was warming despite his low pitch count and low stress throughout the game.
Melton returned for the sixth and had a very quiet inning. A pop out and two groundballs ended things in just 14 pitches. He put the fastball in and around the zone and it played well; once he settles into locating his breaking ball for low strikes, put the league on notice.
Hendricks thankfully left the game for lefty Brock Burke, although with how the inning went, thankfully might not have been the right word. Pulling an arm with 63 pitches through 5 innings is always an interesting decision, but it worked for the sixth. A can of corn to center field, a grounder to the pitcher, and a line out to right wrapped a 1-2-3 inning for Detroit’s offense.
Moore greeted Melton rudely with a line drive single to right field. Melton responded by carving up Campero; sliders down and fastballs up, folks. Neto then lashed a hard liner into the left field corner, but Greene came out of nowhere for a full-extension diving grab to save a run.
Burke stayed in to get Greene out, then left for the right-handed Luis Garcia. His job was to get Dingler. McKinstry and Baez out; it worked. Dingler tucked one past the first baseman for a one-out single. After a wild pitch and a grounder to second, he was at third with two outs, but Baez whiffed at a slider far out of the zone to strand him.
After a long break, Melton came back. Greene made another diving play in left. Jo Adell then ambushed a first-pinch sinker and launched a homer over the right center wall for a 2-run lead. It was initially ruled a double, but replay pretty quickly showed it cleared the fence and bounced back in. Melton finished with a grounder to short to end the inning with Detroit down two.
Another lefty, this one Reid Detmers, came in for LA’s bullpen, and AJ unloaded his bench. Jahmai Jones came in for Keith and led off with a walk. Torres walked too, bringing Matt Vierling to the plate as the go-ahead run. In the surprise of the season so far, Vierling launched a 3-1 fastball for a 3-run bomb, giving Detroit the lead! A Torkelson strikeout later and Detmers was out, old friend Andrew Chafin was in. Perez walked, but after some antics at first base, Chafin caught Perez leaning and picked him off cleanly. Greene then struck out and we had to hope Kyle Finnegan could hold the slimmest of leads.
Nothing comes easy for Detroit these days; a hanging splitter was launched down the left field line. It had the distance, but despite being clearly foul, LA challenged just in case; the foul call was thankfully confirmed. Finnegan wasn’t phased, though; O’Hoppe swung through a perfect high fastball for the first out. Then, Moore whiffed on a splitter down for Finnegan’s second K. A grounder to second from the pinch-hitting Yoan Moncada wrapped the come-from-behind win for the hometown heroes.
A brief statistical comparison coming into tonight’s ballgame, with no ulterior motives whatsoever:
Mike Trout: .240/.364/.471/.835 and 20 HRs
Spencer Torkelson: .243/.330/.480/.810 and 24 HRs
Your move, baseball internet.