Detroit – AJ Hinch walked into the media room after the Tigers rescued a 6-5 victory over the Los Angeles Angels Friday night with an expression that was probably equal parts joy and relief.
“You think that was an important sequence of events,” he said, rhetorically.
Oh man, it certainly felt like it.
Things were not looking great and a baseball team that sorely needed to win a game found itself staring down another frustrating defeat.
Tarik Skubal was knocked out of the game in the fifth. The offense had been slumbering since the second inning and they were down 5-3 entering the bottom of the eighth inning.
But, in case you doubted it, there is still some magic, still some fight, left in this team.
“They all count the same but some do feel extra important,” Hinch said. “And I think based on how we went into the off day Thursday (losing two straight to the Twins), it was sure nice to pull this one out.”
Against lefty reliever Reid Detmers, pinch-hitter Jahmai Jones and Gleyber Torres walked to start the eighth. Those were the first two walks of the game for the Tigers.
“We felt like going into the Detmers inning, we needed as many quality at-bats as we could get,” Hinch said. “It worked out perfectly.”
Hinch sent right-handed hitting Matt Vierling up to pinch-hit for Kerry Carpenter. Vierling got ahead in the count 3-1 and then slammed a 95.7 mph fastball into the seats into the Tigers’ bullpen.
“That was great,” said Vierling, who picked the most opportune time to launch his first homer of the year. “The boys put together a couple of great at-bats before me. I went up there looking for a fastball, something out over the plate and I was able to get that pitch.”
Right-hander Kyle Finnegan, acquired at the trade deadline from the Nationals, locked down the ninth with no drama to earn his third straight save for the Tigers, 67-50, who maintain a six-game lead over Cleveland in the Central Division.
“It’s a race to as many wins as you can get to the end of the season,” Hinch said. “Every win matters. Every game matters. Matty has been grinding and trying to find his impact. He can’t make up for missing the first few months being injured with one swing. But this can catapult him going forward.”
Vierling had some dramatic moments down the stretch last season, moments that turned games around and ignited winning streaks. Could this be the spark the Tigers needed after losing six of their last seven series?
“A big comeback win like this is a momentum-shifter,” Vierling said. “Obviously I don’t want to say what the future holds or anything. But to get this win tonight and pick up Skub after he’s picked us up probably 30 times the past couple of years was huge for us.
“To see everybody happy and in such a good mood and fired up, yeah, hopefully it leads to something.”
It was strange night for Skubal. How many times have you seen him fail to finish five innings? Once in the last two seasons. Not since June 19, 2024.
But there we were.
“I just wasn’t quite myself tonight, by any means,” Skubal said. “And that’s OK. I’m human. I’m not always going to have the best day. I’m not saying it’s acceptable by any means. But I am excited about getting back to work tomorrow and learning from what just happened.”
Staked to a 3-1 lead, Skubal gave up back-to-back home runs, one to a sub-.200 hitter, in a three-run fifth inning and was lifted after Mike Trout rolled a two-out infield single past the mound.
“I think there is so much expectation on him to be perfect and he just wasn’t tonight,” Hinch said. “They hit a few pitches out of the ballpark and that’s not his norm. He had a couple of walks. But we’re just talking about little pieces. I don’t think he was particularly sharp and that’s going to happen.
“I think he’s had a helluva couple of weeks and he certainly deserves the grace of an off night. And his teammates picked him up.”
The two walks and a batch of long counts were indicators that he didn’t have his A-stuff, or at least not his A-command. His four-seamer still averaged 97 mph. He still got eight whiffs on 15 swings with his changeup and struck out six.
But he wasn’t attacking the strike zone like he normally does. He threw only 13 first-pitch strikes to 22 hitters.
His trouble in the fifth started with a one-out walk to .182 hitter Christian Moore. Then he fell behind 3-1 to Gustavo Campero, who entered the game after centerfielder Bryce Teodosio left with a neck strain.
Campero, hitting .160 with two homers, slammed a 95.6 mph four-seamer that was middle up, knocking it into the seats in left field.
Zach Neto was next. Skubal had punched-him out twice, on three pitches in the first inning and on four pitches in the third. But in the fifth, he put a 96.8-mph heater in the same spot as the one to Campero. Neto launched that one 421 feet to left.
It’s the first time in four years he’d allowed back-to-back homers.
“When I go out there, I think our whole team expects to win,” Skubal said. “And I wasn’t very good tonight and we still found a way to win.”
A collective team win, a gritty team win, something that was so prevalent as the Tigers raced to 60 wins faster than any team in baseball but has been less so recently.
Spencer Torkelson triggered a three-run second inning with his 25th home run off Angels starter Kyle Hendricks. Riley Greene, in a 1-for-21 rut, had a pair of singles and made two clutch defensive plays in left field. Javier Báez came through with a two-out, two-strike, two-run single in the third.
Rookie right-hander Troy Melton struck out Taylor Ward to finish the fifth and kept the score close for 3.1 innings, allowing only a solo homer to Jo Adell in the eighth.
“Great job by Melton,” Skubal said. “I probably owe him a bottle of something really nice for picking me up.”
Catcher Dillon Dingler had Skubal’s back, too, throwing him out of a mess a mess in the fourth inning. There were runners at first and second and two outs. Logan O’Hoppe, who had doubled in the Angels’ first run in the second, was up.
Dingler didn’t give him a chance to do any more damage. He fired a dart to back-pick Ward off second base. Dingler’s pop time on the throw was 1.87 second. His average pop time this season is 1.96. It was a seed.
Greene saved a run for Melton in the seventh inning with a spectacular and aggressive diving catch on a slicing line drive hit by Neto. Moore was on first and would’ve scored had the ball got past Greene.
He made the dive at full speed and with a full layout, landing hard on his chest and nearly face-planting.
“That was sick,” Melton said. “Both of his catches were. The diving catch was crazy and then keeping (Mike Trout) off the base in the eighth with that sliding catch was big, too. He’s great out there. It’s really fun pitching in front of him.”
This was more like the formula the Tigers used for the first four months of the season.
“I just think sometimes you have to remember how to win,” Hinch said. “Remember how to play your 27 outs. This team has been exceptional for the majority of the season. Now it’s August, these are the dog days. It is a grind and we do have a lot of guys going through it.
“So it was nice to see a couple of hits fall, nice to see Tork get us right back in the game with that homer. Nice to see Matty deliver the big hit. We need everybody. But we need to win some of the big moments, too, to get back to our identity.”
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