Minneapolis – It was just a week ago that the Tigers lost in dispiriting fashion at home to the Los Angeles Angels. They went to bed that night with their once double-digit lead in the Central Division sliced to five games.
So much premature handwringing.
After a breezy 7-0 win over the Twins Friday night, the Tigers will wake up Saturday with their lead over the Cleveland Guardians restored to 7.5 games and climbing.
“We’re going to play our whole schedule,” manager AJ Hinch said. “I know that’s boring. But I think our guys understand how to run the marathon. I’m proud of this group because they’ve been pretty resilient.”
The Tigers put a stranglehold on this one, scoring five runs in the first inning against rookie right-hander Pierson Ohl. And credit captain clutch, Dillon Dingler, for delivering the hit that opened the floodgates.
Colt Keith and Gleyber Torres started the inning with singles and Kerry Carpenter was credited with an RBI when his hard ground ball to second base was booted by Luke Keaschall.
With one out, Spencer Torkelson worked a 12-pitch walk, fouling off five two-strike pitches at the bottom rail.
But when Wenceel Perez struck out, it looked like Ohl might escape with only a run on the board.
Dingler didn’t let that happen. He looped a two-run single to center. Zach McKinstry followed with an RBI and Javier Báez with an RBI double.
“Yeah, that was good,” Dingler said, somewhat sheepishly. “I was able to get somewhat of a bat on it. It was off the handle. But I got what I was looking for and I was able to drive in the runs.”
This is what Dingler has been doing, very quietly, all season. He came into the game slashing .324/.413/.485 with a .893 OPS with runners in scoring position. And with two outs and runners in scoring position, he’s been even better: .385/.489/.564 with a 1.053 OPS.
Elite production with runners in scoring position.
“He’s pretty calm in those moments,” Hinch said. “He swings a lot but he can hit to all fields. He’s got power and he’s in the fight up there. It’s easy to trust Ding on defense and it’s easy to trust him at the plate. He’s come up huge for our team.”
He came up with another runner in scoring position in the third inning and lined an RBI double to left.
“We had a lot of good at-bats and we took advantage of the error,” Hinch said. “We had three two-out hits in a row and that created a big inning and separated us early. We knew who they were going to use in their pen, which has been used a lot. So it put us in a position to really settle into the game.”
Dingler was pretty clutch behind the plate, too, guiding 18-year veteran Charlie Morton through some rough waters early in the game.
“Ding hung with me,” said Morton, who ended up soldiering through six scoreless but labor-intensive innings to earn his first win as a Tiger. “I told him he was a good pal back there because he really stuck with me early.”
The game was delayed 26 minutes because of a rain shower that blew through just as the pitchers were warming up. Morton had finished his warmups at around 7 p.m. Central and didn’t take the mound until after 8 p.m.
“It wasn’t an easy night to pitch,” Hinch said. “He had about a 40-minute delay and then we batted around in the first, which no pitcher will ever complain about. But it was a really choppy way to start the day for him.”
Of all things, Morton struggled to find the feel of his money pitch, the curveball early in the game. His first inning was extended to 24 pitches by a pair of two-out walks. He had missed with five straight curveballs, but he ended the inning by striking out Matt Wallner, getting whiffs on two straight curveballs.
The key, though, Dingler never stopped punching the curveball button on the PitchCom.
“We were talking through the first three innings, like, we really weren’t on the same page,” Dingler said. “He was trying to find a feel for his curveball but we were able to mix in the other pitches. He’s got so many great pitches that move so much.”
They found some success with sinkers down in the zone to right-handers and four-seam fastballs up, with changeups and cutters, buying time until he got a better feel for the curveball.
“I need my breaking ball,” Morton said. “So whatever we’ve got to do, whatever we’ve got to do to get it going. I know we had a lead but you still have to get through some innings. My glove-side breaking ball, even when I hit guys or if I’m yanking a couple, it’s not the end of the world. But tonight early, it was trying to get it going for strikes.”
In the second inning, Morton gave up a leadoff double to Brooks Lee. With one out and Lee at third, Dingler called for three straight curveballs to lefty Edouard Julien. He missed with the first two, but Dingler stayed stubborn, called for it again, and got strike one.
Three pitches later, with the count full, Dingler called for the curveball once again and Morton got the swing-and-miss punch out.
“Yeah, that’s him,” said Dingler, meaning Morton was insisting on staying with the curveball. “It’s one of the best pitches in baseball and you’ve got to make sure you are sticking with it. You have to find avenues to get back into it.”
Morton allowed just two hits in his six innings, though he kept putting himself in duress with three walks, a hit-batsman and a lot of long at-bats. And in the end, the curveball helped save him. He threw it 34 times and got seven whiffs on 12 swings.
“Even though he said he didn’t have a good feel for it, it’s still completely disgusting,” Dingler said. “It’s still on the back foot to lefties. He didn’t miss over the plate at all. I know a couple backed up on him and he was upset by that. But they were still good misses and he got a ton of swing and miss.”
Pretty cool dynamic building here with the 41-year-old veteran Morton and Dingler, in his first full season in the big leagues.
“I’ve been fortunate for a long time now to be on teams with several really good catchers,” Morton said. “Really good, defensive-focused catchers that are selfless and have a really good feel. Not just for the game but for the people that they are working with.
“And I’ve found the same exact thing here. I feel really fortunate to have those two guys (Dingler and Jake Rogers) here.”
The Tigers (72-52) have won five of their last six games. They are 20 games over .500 for the first time since July 18.
“We still could have done a lot of things better tonight,” Hinch said. “But never be mad after a win. You should always be happy for a chance to win a four-game series with the third game. We need to just keep chipping away at the win total.”
@cmccosky
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