Not an ideal end to the series, and a nice Skubal start squandered.
Welcome to the day game, everyone, where the Tigers hoped to crush the Rockies and head into the weekend series. But this time around the Rockies didn’t want to take it lying down and put up a bit of a fight.
The Rockies had Ryan Feltner on the mound, while the Tigers turned to their ace Taril Skubal to get the job done.
The game started with a 1-2-3 inning for the Rockies, and went much the same for the Tigers in the bottom half. The second inning was the same story.
The Rockies drew first blood as Jordan Beck hit a one-out solo home run. In the home half, the Tigers settled for one baserunner in the form of Jake Rogers, but no runs scored.
Brenton Doyle started the fourth with a single, then Ryan McMahon singled after him. Three outs followed to leave them both stranded. Riley Greene got a one-out single in the bottom half, then Jace Jung walked. A Spencer Torkelson double brought them both home.
Bud Black got ejected for arguing balls and strikes.
In the fifth, Aaron Schunk got a two-out single, but Riley Greene made a killer nab to finish the inning off scoreless.
A Parker Meadows walk was the Tigers’ only baserunner in the bottom of the fifth.
Both the Rockies and Tigers were three-up, three-down in the sixth. The sixth was the end of the day for Skubal, whose final line was 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K on 84 pitches.
Jacob Stallings started against Brenan Hanifee in the seventh and got a one-out double, then Hunter Goodman singled. Sean Guenther came in to replace Hanifee, and a two-out single by Charlie Blackmon tied the game up at 2-2. Spencer Torkelson got a leadoff walk in the home half, but a strikeout and double play ended the inning in short order.
The Rockies were out in order in the top of the eighth. The Tigers were also 1-2-3 in the inning.
Jason Foley came out in the ninth, giving up a single to Brendan Rogers, who then advanced to second on a passed ball. A Jacob Stallings double scored Rogers, then a pinch-hitting Jake Cave got a two-out single to score Stallings. Into the bottom of the ninth the Tigers were looking to tie things up again or walk it off. Colt Keith got a one-out walk. Spencer Torkelson got a two-out single. McKinstry struck out to end the game.
Final: Rockies 4, Tigers 2