Should Detroit Tigers worry about Cleveland Guardians in AL Central?
On “Days of Roar,” Cleveland Guardians beat writer Paul Hoynes checks in about the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central race with two weeks remaining.
The Detroit Tigers had their best chess piece waiting on the bench and ready for the biggest moment of the game.
Kerry Carpenter, a slugger who swings from the left side of the plate, entered as a pinch-hitter for a favorable matchup with Cleveland Guardians right-handed reliever Cade Smith with two outs in the ninth inning.
He blasted a game-tying home run.
But the Tigers failed to complete the comeback in extra innings, losing 7-5 to the Guardians on Tuesday, Sept. 16, in the first of three games in the series at Comerica Park. The Guardians scored four runs in the top of the 10th, whereas the Tigers scored just two runs in the bottom of the inning.
Right-handed reliever Will Vest allowed the four runs.
The Tigers (85-66) and Guardians (79-71) are scheduled to play two more times in this three-game series, with the next matchup set for 6:40 p.m. Wednesday (FanDuel Sports Network Detroit). The Tigers have a 5½-game lead over the Guardians in the American League Central with 11 games remaining, including five more games against the Guardians.
The Tigers have lost 13 of their last 20 games.
In the eighth inning, the Tigers failed to score after Spencer Torkelson’s single off right-handed reliever Hunter Gaddis. He smoked a two-strike fastball into the left-field corner, but superb defense from left fielder Steven Kwan held him to a single.
The Guardians replaced Gaddis with left-handed reliever Tim Herrin, who struck out Riley Greene, pinch-hitter Jake Rogers and Dillon Dingler, stranding Torkelson at first base.
All three batters struck out swinging on curveballs.
The Guardians turned to Smith — their best reliever who entered Tuesday’s game with lefties hitting .165 with a .527 OPS against him — in the ninth inning. The Tigers countered with three lefties in a row, including pinch-hitters Zach McKinstry and Carpenter.
Parker Meadows grounded out and McKinstry struck out, but Carpenter kept the Tigers alive by hitting Smith’s 99 mph fastball for a 429-foot solo home run to center field.
The homer tied the game, 3-3.
The Tigers, though, wasted Carpenter’s home run in the 10th inning.
The Guardians scored four runs off Vest in the top of the 10th, courtesy of Kwan’s RBI double for a 4-3 lead, Angel MartÃnez’s RBI triple for a 5-3 lead, José RamÃrez’s RBI double for a 6-3 lead and Gabriel Arias’ RBI single for a 7-3 lead.
In the bottom of the 10th, Torkelson launched a two-run home run against right-handed reliever Jakob Junis with one out, trimming the Tigers’ deficit to 7-5.
The homer wasn’t enough.
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Casey Mize flashes positive signs
Right-hander Casey Mize delivered his third successful start in a row, following five innings of one-run ball against the New York Mets and six innings of two-run ball against the New York Yankees.
This time, Mize pitched into the sixth inning against the Guardians. The 28-year-old allowed three runs on seven hits and one walk with eight strikeouts across 5â…“ innings, throwing 87 pitches.
Mize owns a 3.88 ERA in 26 starts, including a 3.52 ERA in his last three starts. Before that, he had a 7.20 ERA in an eight-start stretch from July 12 through Aug. 27.
Everything nearly unraveled in the sixth inning, but left-handed reliever Tyler Holton inherited two runners and stranded two runners — bailing out Mize by recording the final two outs in the inning. For the second of three outs, pinch-hitter David Fry hit Holton’s down-and-in cutter for a ground ball to shortstop Javier Báez, who threw out Kyle Manzardo at home plate.
As the catcher, Dingler applied the tag to keep the Tigers’ deficit at 3-1.
Here’s how the Guardians scored their first three runs: C.J. Kayfus hit an RBI single for a 1-0 lead in the second inning, Arias hit a home run for a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning and Bo Naylor hit an RBI double for a 3-1 lead in the sixth inning.
Mize delivered one of his best swing-and-miss performances. He generated 16 whiffs on 49 swings for a 32.7% whiff rate: 10 splitters (on 22 swings), two fastballs, three sliders and one slurve.
Mize entered Tuesday’s game with a 23.1% whiff rate in his first 25 starts.
Plays at the plate
Plays at the plate defined Tuesday’s game, including two of them in the second inning.
The Guardians took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second when Nolan Jones and Kayfus delivered back-to-back hits with two outs. On Kayfus’ single, Jones scored from second base after the ball dropped in front of right fielder Wenceel Pérez.
The throw from Pérez wasn’t accurate.
The Tigers tried and failed to tie the game with one out in the bottom of the second. On Dingler’s double, Andy Ibáñez was thrown out at home plate on a perfect relay from Kwan (left fielder) to Arias (shortstop) to Naylor (catcher).
In the second, the Tigers reached safely on a fielding error, hit a double and drew a walk — but none of the three runners scored. To end the inning, Báez watched three pitches for a three-pitch strikeout, stranding two runners.
Gleyber Torres, home run
It didn’t take long for the Tigers to tie the game.
Gleyber Torres made it 1-1 in the third inning with a solo home run off left-hander Joey Cantillo. In a 3-0 count, Torres hammered Cantillo’s middle-middle fastball for his 16th homer in 135 games.
For the Guardians, Cantillo allowed one run on four hits and two walks with three strikeouts across five innings. He has a 3.27 ERA in 32 games (11 starts).
The Tigers trimmed the Guardians’ lead to 3-2 in the sixth inning.
Dingler grounded into a force out against right-handed reliever Matt Festa, who replaced Cantillo, but he hustled to beat out what could’ve been an inning-ending double play, which allowed Greene to score.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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