This one will be better left forgotten.
With no rain delay in sight, the Tigers actually started their Wednesday game against the A’s on time. Jack Flaherty was on the mound for the Tigers, while Jacob Lopez got the nod for the A’s.
Things got off to a less run-happy start than they did during Tuesday’s game. The A’s went down in order in the top of the first. One of those outs was this fairly fun play by Flaherty.
In the home half of the first, the sole baserunner for the Tigers was Riley Greene, who was ultimately left stranded.
Nick Kurtz kicked off the second inning with a walk. One out later, Tyler Soderstrom hit into a force out to eliminate Kurtz. Luis Urias singled, but then a flyout ended the inning with no damage done. The Tigers went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning.
With one out in the third, Lawrence Butler walked. Butler then stole second on a Jacob Wilson strikeout, but there was some contention over whether he was safe or not. The Tigers challenged, but the call was upheld, and Butler was safe at second. This would ultimately hurt the Tigers. Brent Rooker walked, and then Nick Kurtz hit a three-run homer to put the A’s on the board first in a big way. The home half was three-up, three-down for the Tigers.
In the top of the fourth, Soderstrom walked to start the inning. Two outs later, Denzel Clarke singled. A forceout ended the inning, no harm done. With one out in the home half, Greene was hit by a pitch, but two outs followed, leaving him stranded once again.
Flaherty continued to be steady into the fifth. With two outs, Nick Kurtz singled, but he was ultimately left stranded. The Tigers went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning.
Soderstrom singled to start the sixth, but one out later, he was eliminated trying to steal second. It was a rare case of a throw-em-out, strike-em-out to end the inning. That was the end of the game for Flaherty, whose final line was 6.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 7 K, 1 HR on 90 pitches. It was really those walks that came back to haunt him, and even those wouldn’t have been so damaging if that review call at second had gone the Tigers’ way. C’est la vie. Still one of the better outings we’ve seen from Flaherty lately.
Parker Meadows started the home half of the sixth with a walk, but was then eliminated by the double play. Jahmai Jones doubled, but the Tigers weren’t able to bring him home.
In the seventh, Carlos Hernández came out for the Tigers. Lawrence Butler got a one-out walk, but two outs followed to end the threat. Heading into the bottom of the inning, Wenceel Perez hit a mighty triple, further marking him as the hero of this series. With two outs, it seemed like Lopez was done for the day, but after A’s manager, Mark Kotsay, went out, he headed back to the dugout without the ball and without Lopez. This was apparently not the plan, as the bullpen doors opened to let a reliever out, who quickly turned around and headed back to the pen, and will most certainly wake up in a cold sweat at random intervals for the rest of his life thinking about that moment. Lopez finished the inning with a flyout to Dingler.
Matt Gage was out for the eighth and gave up back-to-back singles to Nick Kurtz and Max Muncy. A bobbled catch by Greene in left allowed both runners to advance to scoring position. With one out in the inning, Gage was done, replaced by Dylan Smith. Smith got the final two outs of the inning. Michael Kelly, who accidentally entered the game in the seventh, was out for real in the eighth. Javier Baez hit a flyout to start things off which is only worth noting because, respectfully, Soderstrom made one heck of a catch to collect it. With two outs, Gleyber Torres doubled. Too bad the Tigers couldn’t convert the runner into a run.
Denzel Clarke was hit by a pitch to start the inning. A lineout and double play ended the inning, though, and it was down to the bottom of the ninth for the Tigers to make something happen. But nothing good happened; Mason Miller got the Tigers out in order. Game over.