Former Central Michigan left-hander Dietrich Enns pitched for the Tampa Bay Rays in September 2021, traveled overseas to Japan and Korea for the next three years, returned to the United States in hopes of an MLB return and joined the Detroit Tigers on a minor league contract in January 2025.
The Tigers promoted the 34-year-old from Triple-A Toledo to start Thursday, June 26, against the Athletics at Comerica Park — his first MLB game in 1,371 days.
Enns guided the Tigers to a 8-0 win over the Athletics, completing five scoreless innings on one hit and two walks allowed with four strikeouts in his 77-pitch performance. He tossed more than four innings for the first time in his 12-game MLB career, including two games in 2017 and nine games in 2021.
The Tigers (51-31) supported Enns — and won the rubber match of the three-game series — with home runs from Spencer Torkelson and Gleyber Torres.
But Enns set the tone from the first inning.
He retired the first three Athletics on eight pitches: Jacob Wilson on a flyout, Brent Rooker on a groundout and Nick Kurtz on a swinging strikeout.
Enns had just one stressful inning.
It was the third, when Max Schuemann hit a leadoff single and Denzel Clarke drew a five-pitch walk.
Instead of falling apart, Enns won a seven-pitch battle with Wilson for a flyout, which put runners on the corners, then got Rooker to ground into an inning-ending double play with back-to-back changeups at the bottom of the strike zone.
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Everything else seemed easy in the other innings.
Enns retired the final eight batters he faced.
For Enns’ 77 pitches, he used 37 four-seam fastballs, 23 changeups, eight cutters, seven curveballs and two sinkers. He generated 13 whiffs on 42 swings for a 31% whiff rate, thanks to seven fastballs, five changeups and one sinker. His fastball averaged 93.1 mph — and maxed out at 94.5 mph.
Not only did Enns miss bats, but he also limited hard contact and kept the ball on the ground. The Athletics averaged an 81.4 mph exit velocity on their 11 balls in play.
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Spencer Torkelson, Gleyber Torres hit home runs
The Tigers grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second inning.
Torkelson hit a solo home run to left-center off a changeup from left-hander Jeffery Springs — his first homer since June 10 (and his third homer in June). The 25-year-old hit just .111 with five walks and 10 strikeouts in 10 games between homers.
He has 17 homers in 76 games.
A two-run double from Jahmai Jones extended the Tigers’ lead to 3-0 in the third inning. He connected on Springs’ changeup at the bottom of the strike zone, shooting the ball down the third-base line and into the left-field corner.
Springs allowed three runs in five innings.
In the seventh, Torres hit a two-run home run off right-handed reliever J.T. Ginn, making it 5-0. He has eight homers in 69 games, along with a .281 batting average and an .816 OPS.
Zach McKinstry contributes
The Tigers added three runs in the eighth inning.
Those runs put the Tigers ahead, 8-0.
Zach McKinstry — one of 18 players from Central Michigan in MLB history, along with Enns — drove in the first two runs with a triple off left-handed reliever T.J. McFarland, then scored on Jake Rogers’ sacrifice fly.
McKinstry, who went 3-for-4, has been a steady contributor for the Tigers throughout the 2025 season, hitting .277 with a .793 OPS in 73 games. He has played five different positions on defense.
Among Tigers players, McKinstry ranks fourth with 23 extra-base hits, trailing only Riley Greene (38), Torkelson (34) and Kerry Carpenter (26). He also ranks second with a .355 on-base percentage — ahead of Greene, Torkelson and Carpenter, but behind Torres.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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