Plus some incredible fielding from Wenceel Perez
After a lengthy rain delay (with no apparent actual rain) in Detroit, the Tigers opened their home series against the [City Name Redacted] A’s. The Tigers were hoping for more greatness out of their ace Tarik Skubal, while the A’s had turned to Luis Severino.
The score wasn’t 0-0 for long. Jacob Wilson took a leadoff walk for the A’s, then Brent Rooker hit a two-run home run to put the California team on the board first. Three outs followed. In the home half, Colt Keith kicked things off with a single. Then with one out, Kerry Carpenter hit his own home run to tie up the game.
Riley Greene got a single, but the Tigers ultimately left him stranded.
With two outs in the top of the second Tyler Soderstrom singled. Then Denzel Clarke hit his second home run of the season to put the A’s up by two again, and begging the question: will we only see two-run homers in this game? In the home half Trey Sweeney got a two-out walk, but was the only Tigers’ baserunner for the inning.
Skubal got back in the zone in the third for a 1-2-3 inning. In the home half, Gleyber Torres kicked things off with a single, then with one out, Greene doubled to put two men in scoring position. A Wenceel Perez double brought two runs in to re-tie the game at 4-4.
Zach McKinstry was hit by a pitch for a free bag. Then, with two outs, Dillon Dingler hit a home run to bring three runs in and break the two-run home run curse of the game. Oh, and it also gave the Tigers the first lead of the game.
The A’s once again went down in order in the top of the fourth. However, the Tigers did the same in the home half.
With two outs in the top of the fifth, Jacob Wilson and Brent Rooker hit back-to-back singles. Skubal pitched out of that jam, though, and no A’s runs scored. The Tigers were 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning.
In the sixth, Skubal allowed a one-out single to Max Muncy, but Muncy would be left stranded as Skubal threw some of the most filthy pitches in his repertoire to get out of the inning. That was also it for Skubal for the game, and his final line was 6.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 2 HR on 97 pitches. Not an ideal night, especially in those first two innings, but I choose to believe the delayed start.
In the home half, Hogan Harris came in to replace Severino, and gave up a leadoff single to Parker Meadows. Three outs followed, leaving Meadows stranded.
Chase Lee came out for the Tigers in relief in the seventh. Tyler Soderstrom singled, but was thrown out at second trying to leg out an extra base. That wouldn’t be the only killer throw for Wenceel Perez in the inning, either.
Denzel Clarke singled, then Jacob Wilson did almost the exact same move as Soderstrom, hitting a single, then trying to stretch it out, before getting thrown out by Perez. Despite ther hustle, the A’s couldn’t make anything happen in the seventh. In the home half, though, the Tigers sure got something going. With two outs, Riley Greene singled, with Wenceel Perez singling right behind him. Then what should have been a very basic single from McKinstry ended up being a disaster for the A’s as Soderstrom completely lost the ball at home plate, allowing Greene and Perez to score, with an error being credited to Soderstrom.
Tyler Holton was next out of the pen in the eighth. He got the side out in order, though the A’s did challenge the last out call at first, which was ultimately upheld as an out. In the bottom of the inning Tyler Ferguson came out of the A’s pen. With one out, Javier Baez walked. One out later, Gleyber Torres singled, followed by a Jahmai Jones walk to load the bases. T.J. McFarland came on to replace Ferguson, and Riley Greene singled, scoring two more runs. Greene got tagged out at second to end the inning, but he certainly did some damage on his way there.
Matt Gage came out for the Tigers in the ninth, and got the A’s out in order, with one final tremendous catch by Perez to end the game. With that, the Tigers collected their 50th win of the season.