Minneapolis – The Tigers’ stouthearted 4-3 win in 11 innings over the Minnesota Twins at Target Field Thursday night might be best viewed as a three-act play.
We’ll start with the epilogue.
“I feel like last year we learned how to win,” said Spencer Torkelson, who made a key defensive play in Act III. “I think we just find different ways to win and keep building that confidence. When you can go into a game trusting that it doesn’t have to be a three-run homer, it doesn’t have to be anything crazy, we just find a way.”
Down 3-0, a weird place to be on a night when Tarik Skubal is on the mound, Riley Greene hit his 28th homer, a two-run shot in the fourth inning, and Colt Keith, on his 24th birthday, rapped an RBI single to score Javier Báez (double) in the sixth to get even.
Then, after dodging a bullet in the bottom of the 10th, the Tigers prevailed on Gleyber Torres’ sacrifice fly in the top of the 11th inning, coupled with some clutch pitching from veteran Rafael Montero.
“When you look at our team and our identity, it’s about 26 guys,” manager AJ Hinch said. “And Tarik was a big part of tonight. Even though it didn’t go perfect, he found a way to help us win.”
Act I: World Upside Down
Back on June 29 at Comerica Park, Skubal struck out 13 Twins’ hitters over seven scoreless innings, allowing just one hit.
On Thursday, the Twins put up three runs and worked 29 pitches in the third inning, one of the more aggravating innings Skubal has had to deal with this season.
“Just kind of fighting myself a little bit,” he said. “Physically but probably mentally, too. I said somethings to myself that I won’t say on camera. But I went out and tried to be aggressive and tried to compete. I just feel like I haven’t been executing pitches at the clip I’m accustomed to and that’s frustrating.”
But in the sixth and seventh, he was back on form. There was a stretch in the sixth when he threw five straight pitches — 99, 98, 99.8, 99, 98.
BOX SCORE: Tigers 4, Twins 3 (11)
With one out in the third inning, Skubal fell behind No. 9 hitter Edouard Julien, 2-0. Julien, a lefty hitter, was hitting .186 and Skubal hadn’t allowed a home run to a lefty all season.
Until right then. Julien shellacked a 95-mph sinker, sending it 410 feet onto the pavilion in right field.
“It wasn’t a bad pitch,” Skubal said. “It was just a bad count. He had count leverage and that makes all the difference on a swing like that.”
Then came the paper cuts.
Austin Martin snuck a two-strike double inside the line in left. With two outs, Byron Buxton softly singled to center, moving Martin to third. He scored on a ground out and then Luke Keaschall singled Buxton home.
“Mechanically, he was fighting it early,” Hinch said. “He just couldn’t quite get in sync and the ball wasn’t coming out hot. They were able to make some pretty good swings and make contact, which can create some stress.”
For the first four innings, the velocity on Skubal’s four-seam fastball and sinker was down, 95-96 mph. He was mislocating sliders and changeups, as well.
“Sometimes you slow your body down and you think that will work,” Skubal said. “Or you try some cues that typically get you back on track. I just couldn’t find the one to click.”
Skubal and pitching coaches Chris Fetter and Robin Lund were studying the video in the early innings, trying to see what was amiss.
“Yeah, in between innings he’s talking to our guys and we’re trying to find the unlock, we’re trying to find the cues that get him going,” Hinch said. “Then you look up and it’s 99 mph and 100 mph.”
Act II: Punching Back
From the fourth inning through the seventh, the Twins got one single off Skubal. He finished his outing with 10 straight outs, finishing with a seven-inning, quality start.
“You try to go out with your best swing,” he said. “You don’t want to get punched in the mouth and not at least throw one shot back.”
In the fourth inning, Skubal gave up a two-out, two-strike single to Julien and he was seething. Another mislocated two-strike pitch.
“Execution to my glove side hasn’t been as sharp as it usually is and that’s a big part of my game,” he said. “When I’m not doing that, it’s hard to get into count leverage and that is everything. It’s just part of my game and when I’m not doing that, it makes me a little more vulnerable than I usually am.”
He started hitting 97-mph more often in the fifth, which was his first clean inning of the game. He ended it by striking out Keaschall with a nasty 93-mph slider. But on the pitch before, he hung an 0-2 changeup in the middle of the plate that Keaschall fouled off.
“Credit to Tarik for not mentally getting too frustrated,” Hinch said. “The stuff coming out of his hand in the back half of the game was incredible and just as important to this win as anything.”
Act III: For The Win
The battle extended beyond regulation. The Tigers couldn’t scratch a run or a hit off four different relievers. The Twins didn’t push anything across against Kyle Finnegan and Tyler Holton in the eighth and ninth.
“Extra innings are so unpredictable,” Hinch said. “The free runner creates stress from the very beginning.”
If you had Montero taking down the final four outs, good on you. It was his first leverage work as a Tiger. The bullpen was without Will Vest, who had pitched in three of the last four games.
“Once Finnegan went in and the way the left-handed hitters were stacked at the bottom of their order, with a ton of lefties on the bench, I loved getting Holton in there at that point,” Hinch said.
Finnegan got four outs. Holton pitched around a double in the ninth and then got maybe the biggest out of the game in the 10th.
The Twins used pinch-hitter Mickey Gasper to bunt the free runner to third base.
“Holton did an amazing job throwing strikes there and letting them bunt,” Torkelson said. “If they want to give us an out, we’re going to take it.”
With one out, Martin came up. Holton got ahead 0-2 as Martin, inexplicably, tried to bunt. He then hit a checked-swing grounder to Torkelson. Torkelson charged the ball and threw a strike to catcher Dillon Dingler, who applied a swift tag on the runner, Alan Roden, at the plate.
“Just do-or-die,” Torkelson said. “Ding made a great play, great tag.”
That left a runner at first, two outs and right-hander Byron Buxton coming up. That’s when Hinch called on Montero.
“He can miss some bats,” Hinch said. “The velocity has been good and he’s starting to settle in. He’s been in some big moments. Once the game gets to Buxton with a runner at first, you feel a lot better than with Buxton up and a runner at second or third.”
Montero got Buxton to line out to short. But then he had to deal with Buxton again in the 11th — this time as the free runner.
Montero struck out Ryan Jeffers on a foul tip that Dingler picked just before it hit the dirt. The Twins felt the ball hit the dirt. Manager Rocco Baldelli argued vehemently with home plate umpire John Bacon, to the point where he was ejected. He threw his hat toward the field on his way out as an exclamation point.
Montero finished the job getting Keaschall to ground out and striking out Royce Lewis.
“Being nervous in a situation like that, no,” Montero said through interpreter Carlos Guillen. “That’s so long ago that I would get nervous. Now it’s just come out and perform. And most of the time, situations like that is when I perform better. The moment makes me perform better.”
Spoken like a man who was a leverage reliever for the Astros in the 2022 World Series championship run.
“He doesn’t need a confidence boost,” Hinch said. “The guy has pitched in huge games. But I think settling in on a new team is really important and to be able to give us another weapon late in games.”
With the win, the Tigers (71-52) maintain their 6.5-game lead over the Cleveland Guardians in the Central Division.
Curtain down.
@cmccosky
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