This was not a good day for the Tigers on the mound or at the plate.
The Tigers bats were lifeless on Saturday while it was the Cubs turn to hit the home runs. They did so, mashing five taters to cruise to a series evening victory.
Keider Montero’s weakness has generally been getting his command dialed in early in a start. Tyler Holton has struggled coming in to hold leads in the later innings. A reasonable solution was to open with Holton against the top of the Cubs lineup and then let Montero take over. Best laid plans, as they say. The Cubs had no problem dealing with Tigers’ pitching in this one.
The plan started to go awry when Holton allowed a solo shot to Seiya Suzuki with two outs in the top of the first. That was the sixth homer Holton has allowed this season after allowing just seven all of the 2024 campaign. It was actually a fairly well placed changeup in a 3-2 count, but Suzuki jumped on it.
The Detroit Tigers first three at-bats saw a Gleyber Torres single against RHP Jameson Taillon in the bottom of the first, but no more.
The plan played out a little better in the second as Holton struck out Pete Crow-Armstrong before turning the game over to Montero. The right-hander walked Michael Busch but otherwise cleaned up the inning. Taillon got three fly outs to send us to the third.
Montero struck out Ian Happ with a bit of a favorable strike three call on a fastball away and then whiffed Kyle Tucker on a knuckle curve to handle the third easily. Jake Rogers led off the bottom half with a walk, but Trey Sweeney erased him with a double play ball and the Tigers went quietly into the fourth inning.
Montero froze Suzuki for strike three to start the fourth, then popped up Dansby Swanson. Crow-Armstrong went down on strikes with a high changeup called strike three. Gleyber Torres flicked a single into left field for a single and his second hit of the game, but the trio of Carpenter-Greene-Torkelson went fly out, swinging strikeout, and fly out.
Montero sawed off Nico Hoerner to start the fifth, but he reached on a broken bat grounder that McKinstry had little chance of getting him on. Hoerner is fast down the line, and McKinstry fumbled with his grip for a moment. Michael Busch stepped to the dish and crushed a first pitch changeup down but in the center of the plate for a two-run homer. Montero retired the next three in order but it was 3-0 Cubs.
Meanwhile Taillon was cruising along through four innings. He got Wenceel Pérez on a grounder to start the fifth but Zach McKinstry ripped a drive into the right field corner and burned it to third with his fifth triple of the season. Jake Rogers chopped a bouncer right down the line to rookie third baseman Matt Shaw and McKinstry broke immediately for home. Shaw made a poor decision and then a poor throw home, and everyone was safe. That was all they’d get as Sweeney popped out and Meadows swung through a fastball right through his sweet spot for strike three. 3-1 Cubs.
Montero got Tucker on an 0-2 ground out to start the sixth. Suzuki lined out to Riley Greene on a sharply hit drive, and Swanson grounded out to Torkelson as Montero covered first base.
Taillon was just topping 60 pitches entering the bottom of the sixth and quickly popped up Torres for the first out. He fell behind Kerry Carpenter 2-0 but got a favorable strike call on a fastball away and then popped him up as well on a high breaking ball away. Riley Greene swung through a pair of changeups to start his AB before taking a fastball and a changeup up to work into a 2-2 count. A changeup down and in drew a whiff and the Tigers were not handling him any better the third time through the order despite a fastball that averages just 92.2 mph.
The seventh inning did not begin well. Crow-Armstrong lifted a high fly ball off a Montero curveball and it just kept drifting out to right field for a solo shot. 4-1 Cubs. Montero got the next two outs, but a 2-1 slider down was clubbed to left field by Matt Shaw for the Cubs fourth home run of the game. Montero hadn’t allowed much hard contact, but everything hard hit left the park. 5-1 Cubs.
Catcher Reese McGuire took a look at the Tigers shifted defensive alignment and the left-handed hitter dropped down a perfect bunt down the third base line for a single. That brought Happ to the dish but Montero got him to ground out to first to end the inning.
Pretty ugly day on the mound for Montero after things started pretty well. Four earned runs on three homers in 5 2⁄3 innings is not going to get it done.
The Tigers could not solve Taillon at all in this one. Torkelson popped out and Pérez grounded out weakly to first. That left it up to McKinstry and he hit one hard but right to Suzuki in right field to end the seventh inning.
Chase Lee took over in the eighth for the Tigers, and he got Tucker on a deep fly out to left center field to start things off. Suzuki got a flat 0-1 sweeper right into his happy zone, and he smoked it to left for his second homer of the game. 6-1 Cubs. Swanson grounded out and Crow-Armstrong flew out to Meadows to send it to the bottom half.
Cubs manager Craig Counsel turned to lefty Caleb Thielbar in the eighth, despite the Tigers right-handed bats stacked up. Presumably he didn’t care at this point and wanted Thielbar to get some work. Rogers lifted a shallow fly ball to left to start the inning. Jahmai Jones pinch hit for Trey Sweeney and promptly pulled a single through the infield. Meadows looks like he’s still feeling for his timing as he was late on pretty low wattage fastballs in the zone for most of the game, but he got a 1-2 fastball up and spanked it through the box for a single that got Jones to third.
Gleyber Torres got jobbed by a high fastball that was well out of the zone, but took a breaking ball down for a 2-1 count. Another high fastball out of the zone was called strike two, so Thielbar tried to mine the well again but this one was rightly called a ball. The 3-2 count was resolved with a pop-out and Torres was rightly upset with himself as well as with home plate umpire Doug Eddings.
AJ Hinch pinch hit Dillon Dingler for Kerry Carpenter—why is it always Carpenter—and Counsel countered by bringing in right-hander Daniel Palencia for Thielbar. Hinch saw that move and raised Counsel one Colt Keith in place of Dingler. At this point the Tigers were desperate so burning the bench didn’t matter.
All this was interesting, as Palencia has better splits against lefties. The hard-thrower fired three 100+ mph fastballs but it was 2-1 on Keith before a changeup down was hit well but out to Crow-Armstrong in center field for the final out and really the Tigers last shot at mounting some kind of a comeback.
John Brebbia pitched the ninth, trying to get himself back on track after a rough go since returning from some early season shoulder trouble. Javier Báez entered the game at shortstop as a result of the pinch-hitting decisions. Brebbia got Hoerner to ground out, and then struck out Busch and Shaw swinging for a rare good inning for the pitching staff in this one.
Palencia dealt Riley Greene his fourth strikeout of the game to start the bottom of the ninth. Torkelson drilled a triple digit heater for a single to right center field and Pérez drew a walk, giving the Tigers a chance to get a little vibe going before this one ended. They wasted that chance though.
McKinstry worked into a 2-2 count but got blown away by 100 mph down the middle. Pérez then got back-picked by McGuire with Jake Rogers at the plate. He was initially called safe, but Michael Busch’s foot had him blocked out without any real intent to block the base and he was clearly out. A review overturned the safe call and that was that.
RHP Jack Flaherty will take on rookie right-hander Cade Horton on Sunday at 1:40 p.m. ET on Sunday to decide the series.