After a pair of disappointing losses, the Tigers looked to right the ship on another chilly evening in Minneapolis. Despite having their ace on the mound, and the Twins putting together a far-from-fearsome lineup these days, those bats did enough to knock our starter around and secure a 4-2 victory for the Minnesotans.<\/p>\n
Tarik Skubal made his third start of the season, and he\u2019s been doing Skubally things so far. Coming into tonight he\u2019d struck out nine and walked exactly zero in thirteen innings. Would tonight be the night he\u2019d walk a guy?<\/p>\n
Making his third start of the year for the Twins was Taj Bradley. After two seasons in the Rays\u2019 rotation, he was traded to Minnesota at the trade deadline for Griffin Jax. Remember last year when the Twins had a little fire-sale? I sure do. They managed to procure a pair of good young starters in Bradley and Mick Abel, who will no doubt be a pain for the Tigers.<\/p>\n
With one out in the second, Zach McKinstry doubled to right field, and Spencer Torkelson hit a single to put runners at the corners. Parker Meadows then struck out on a nasty splitter for the second out, and Javier B\u00e1ez got plunked to load the bases, but Colt Keith promptly grounded out to second and that was that.<\/p>\n
Skubal found himself in a mini-jam of his own in the bottom of the inning, after a one-out double by Victor Caratini and a single by Josh Bell to put runners on the corners. But then Skubal bore down and got a strikeout and a flyout to get out of it.<\/p>\n
The bottom of the next inning saw the Twins get two singles to lead off, and Austin Martin hit into a double play, putting the lead runner on third with two outs. But then a soft comebacker to Skubal got him out of the inning.<\/p>\n
A similar thing happened in the next inning: a Kevin McGonigle throwing error and a single to centre put two runners on with two out, and Royce Lewis lofted a fly ball towards the left-field fence, but Riley Greene hauled it in for the third out. But you can only play with fire long enough before it singes your fingertips.<\/p>\n
The bottom of the fifth featured Skubal\u2019s first walk of the year, to Byron Buxton (check your Bingo cards, everyone). And then he went and walked the next hitter, Martin, to put another two runners on. Since you can only play with fire for so long before getting burned, Luke Keaschall singled to centre to score Buxton and open the scoring. Ryan Jeffers followed with a two-run double to right to score both Martin and Keaschall; he was 1-for-25 before this plate appearance off Skubal in his career. After a strikeout, Bell blasted a double to make it 4-0 and end Skubal\u2019s day. Tyler Holton came in and got a sharp grounder to second for the third out, but the damage had been done.<\/p>\n
In the top of the seventh, and with Bradley still on the mound, the Tigers got a pair of singles from Torkelson and Meadows. B\u00e1ez struck out, Bradley left in favour of Taylor Rogers, and Keith was replaced by Jahmai Jones, who flew out to right and pushed Torkelson to third. McGonigle singled to left, scoring Torkelson and making the score 4-1. But Gleyber Torres struck out and the inning ended.<\/p>\n
Connor Seabold replaced Holton to start the seventh, and he threw a pleasantly boring inning.<\/p>\n
With two out in the top of the eighth, Cole Sands walked McKinstry and Torkelson, and Kerry Carpenter, who hadn\u2019t started the past two days due to an illness, came on to pinch-hit for Meadows. Eric Orze replaced Sands to face Carpenter, but alas, he struck out and the threat was extinguished.<\/p>\n
Seabold carried on into the bottom of the eighth, and perhaps he shouldn\u2019t have, allowing a pair of singles to start the inning. After a strikeout and a walk, the bases were loaded with one out. Seabold then struck out Brooks Lee looking, surprising him with a low fastball, to bring up Buxton\u2026 who fouled-out to Torkelson for the third out.<\/p>\n
The Tigers had some signs of life in the ninth: B\u00e1ez doubled to lead off the ninth, but Jones struck out for the first out. McGonigle followed, and of course he came through, anticipating a splitter down and scraping it almost off the firt for a sharp double down the right field line. That knocked B\u00e1ez in for a 4-2 score. Justin Topa replaced Orze, Torres grounded out for the second out, pushing McGonigle up to third; Greene walked to put runners at the corners. Alas, Dillon Dingler grounded out softly to shortstop and the game was over.<\/p>\n
Kinda fun at the end, but ultimately\u2026 bleh again.<\/p>\n