Tigers 4, Orioles 3: Surging Tigers seize control of the wild card race

With the series victory, the Tigers are now tied with KC for the third wild card, and a half game up on the Twins for the fourth spot.

These Tigers will not be denied. In another tense matchup with the Baltimore Orioles, the young Tigers played another complete team game, outplaying Baltimore on the mound, in the batter’s box, and in the field to take a 4-3 victory on Sunday. The series win now has them tied with the Royals for the third wild card spot, and a half game up on the Twins for the fourth and final spot as those two clubs continue to come unglued.

This is just an incredible run. Let’s break down how they took out the Orioles in this one.

The sight of the dreaded TBD on your team’s side in place of a starting pitcher has long been an ominous symbol for baseball fans. Tigers fans are in a different place with it after the last two months.

For Sunday’s rubber match with the Orioles, TBD meant Tyler Holton, and it’s hard to do much better. Right-hander Albert Suárez got the start for Baltimore, and he’s typically very effective despite modest strikeout rates. The Orioles came in trying to lock up their postseason berth. The Tigers are trying to overtake their AL Central rivals in Minnesota and Kansas City. Scoreboard watching would be on tap throughout this one.

The Tigers went in order in the first, and Holton set down the Orioles 1-2-3 as well. The Tigers then opened up a lead in the second. With two outs, Spencer Torkelson was aggressive against Suárez and got a first pitch cutter down the middle. He did not miss, lifting it high out to left field for a solo shot. Jace Jung and Trey Sweeney followed with doubles and Jung scored on Sweeney’s drive to center field to make it 2-0 Tigers. Jake Rogers grounded out to end the inning, but it was good to see the Tigers pounce early.

Holton walked Colton Cowser to start the bottom of the second, but then punched out Adley Rutschman swinging. Ryan O’Hearn grounded out, and Holton carved up Heston Kjerstad on a nasty sweeper to send us to the third.

Kerry Carpenter’s bat has been quite in the month of September, but he woke up in a big way with one out in the third. A changeup over the middle 1-0 got launched to right field, and it was 3-0 Tigers on Carpenter’s 16th homer of the year. That’s a pretty solid total considering he’s only played 82 games due to the back issue. Let’s hope he can run it higher over the next week.

Ty Madden got the call in the bottom of the third. The hard-throwing right-hander has had trouble taking the next step over the past year. A pretty well regarded pitching prospect, Madden spun his wheels until he developed a split-change this spring to help him handle lefties. His bane was the one big inning, as Madden routinely pitched well at Triple-A only to melt down and lose his command for a big inning in many starts. Since his call-up in late August, Chris Fetter, Robin Lund, and Juan Nieves, the dream team of Tigers’ pitching coaches, has been working with him to clean up his mechanics a bit and find some consistent cues to help get him back on track when he gets wild. It’s working.

Madden struck out Ramon Urias and got Cedric Mullins on a grounder to Torkelson at first. He walked Gunnar Henderson, but that’s not a bad move, planned or not, and Jordan Westburg grounded out to Colt Keith at second to send us to the fourth inning.

Suárez decided that his offspeed stuff wasn’t working, and overpowered the Tigers in the top of the fourth. He blew away Keith, Torkelson, and Jung all swinging to send it to the bottom half. Only Tork saw a wrinkle as the mid-90’s high heat was served up in industrial sized doses by the big right-hander.

Madden got into a little trouble by walking Anthony Santander to start the frame. Cowser grounded to second base, and Colt Keith got the lead runner at second with Cowser safe at first. Adley Rutschman drilled an oppo single that clanged off a diving Jace Jung’s glove. The young third baseman recovered quickly, collecting the ball in the outfield as Cowser tried to go first to third. Ty Madden did a good job of getting to third, took the throw from Jung, and dropped a perfect hard tag on Cowser for the out. Madden returned to the mound and blew way Ryan O’Hearn with a fastball for a swinging strike three to end the inning.

Suárez continued the high-powered, high fastball approach in the fifth and struck out Sweeney. Jake Rogers lined out sharply to Urias at third. Meadows lifted a routine fly ball to center field, and that was a quick inning for Suárez.

Madden opened the bottom of the fifth by freezing Kjerstad with a good fastball on the inner edge for the first out. However, Urias dumped a soft single into center field and that brought Mullins to the dish. Madden tried to go with a first pitch high fastball after working down for the most part through his outing. It didn’t work. Mullins blasted the heater to right center field for a two-run homer. 3-2 Tigers.

Henderson followed with a single that a diving Colt Keith couldn’t quick pick, and that brought Jordan Westburg to the dish as lefty Sean Guenther started warming in the bullpen. The rookie took some deep breaths as the pressure built up a bit, but he fell behind Westburg 3-0. Madden fired a fastball for strike one, but a cutter that hung up over the middle of the plate got smoked to left for an RBI double, and it was a tie ballgame.

Things unraveled quickly for Madden, and A.J. Hinch decided to snuff the building fire in the Orioles offense. Lefty Sean Guenther came in to turn Santander around to hit right-handed, looking to keep the Orioles from taking the lead. It worked, as Santander grounded out to Keith. Cowser, also a left-hander, as you see why Hinch had the quick hook to the lefty here, got a bad first pitch sinker right down the middle and scorched it to center field. Parker Meadows ran a long, long way to get to the wall, leapt high and absolutely robbed Cowser to turn the Orioles away. Just another spectacular Parker Meadows play.

On to the sixth as we hoped that catch would turn momentum back the Tigers’ way.

The antidote to Suárez’s high fastball is a good high fastball hitter. The Tigers have one in Kerry Carpenter, and the right-fielder got the lead right back with his second homer of the game to lead off the inning. 4-3 Tigers.

Matt Vierling drew a walk, and that was it for Suárez. Brandon Hyde turned to lefty Keegan Akin against Riley Greene and Colt Keith. Akin got Greene whiffing at a slider down and away for the first out of the inning. Keith suffered a similar fate as Akin was in good form and spotting his stuff well. That left it up to Spencer Torkelson, but he popped out to shortstop to end the inning and strand Vierling.

There was an amusing moment while the Tigers were batting as the young Tigers in the dugout gathered around a tablet to watch Meadows’ catch and celebrate it again for a moment. I feel like I could hurl watching all this. The kids are just having a good time.

That’s all well and good, but the Orioles weren’t going anywhere. Rutschman greeted Guenther with a double to left to open the bottom of the sixth. Hyde pinch-hit right-hander Emmanuel Rivera in for O’Hearn, and so Hinch pulled Guenther and put Brenan Hanifee into the game.

Hanifee and Kjerstad locked into a full count, but Hanifee yanked ball four down and in. On the one hand, this set up a potential inning ending double play. On the other, an extra base hit would be even more menacing as Ramon Urias, who doesn’t have a ton of power, stepped to the dish. Urias lined a comebacker right off Hanifee’s leg and it kicked to Jung at third. His reactions there were great as he bare-handed it and fired to first. Torkelson had to lay out fully for it, but kept his toe on the base for the second out.

Hanifee dismissed all concerns for his leg health, impatiently putting up with his coaches’ wellness check and throwing a few pitches to make sure he was good to go. He then dusted Cedric Mullins with a nasty fading changeup for strike three to turn the Orioles away.

This is good stuff. Rub some dirt on it, winning baseball type stuff.

On to the seventh. Still 4-3 Tigers.

Jung got replaced by Andy Ibáñez for his troubles, as lefty Danny Coulombe took over from the lefty Keegan Akin. Coulombe dusted him with a funky high breaking ball. Trey Sweeney did a good job taking two breaking balls off the plate in an 0-2 count, but home plate umpire Adam Beck robbed him by ringing him out on a breaker 2-3 inches off the plate. Jake Rogers drew a walk as the Tigers were barking at Beck, and Hyde came out to pull Coulombe.

One reason the Orioles are a difficult matchup for the Tigers, is the fact that Hyde can pull one lefty after another out of his hat, and he brought in Cionel Perez to get Parker Meadows. It worked, as a high fastball drew a whiff and sent us on to the bottom half of the seventh.

Hanifee had a tough draw here against the top of the Orioles order. He walked Gunnar Henderson to start things, and that was rather less than ideal. The right-handed hitting Westburg was next however, so Hanifee was hunting the ground ball off his sinker. He fell behind 3-1, then jammed him with a fourseamer for a foul off the handle. Henderson ran on the next pitch and Westburg pulled it to Ibáñez at third. Andy threw Westburg out at first as Henderson took second, and that was it for Hanifee as Will Vest took over against the very dangerous Santander.

Vest pumped gas to the top of the zone to get ahead in the count, and then spotted a beauty of a 97 mph heater right on the outer edge for strike three. Cowser watched two balls to start his AB and eventually lifted a deep drive to the warning track in center field. Meadows didn’t have to do anything fancy this time, squeezing it for the third out.

On to the eighth. As Gene Wilder said in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, “the suspense is terrible. I hope it will last.”

Trying to counter this parade of lefties, and also looking to irritate the Tigers fanbase, A.J. Hinch pinch-hit Justyn-Henry Malloy in for Kerry Carpenter to start the inning. More than likely, Carpenter was coming out for a defensive replacement anyway, but I wouldn’t say it necessarily worked out that well.

Malloy got plunked and Wenceel Pérez came in to pinch-run. Matt Vierling flew out softy to right field and it was Riley Greene’s turn as we watched to see if the speedy Wenceel would run. Instead, Greene pulled a ground out to the right side to move Pérez to second with two outs. Keith fell behind 0-2, but then took a pair of balls to even the count. Keith got a breaking ball inside and pulled it to first base to strand Pérez.

Rutschman lifted a routine fly ball to center to start the bottom of the eighth with Vest still on the mound and the fanbase scrambling to figure out who was still left available in the bullpen for the ninth. The answer was going to be Jason Foley, but Vest needed to insure that it mattered in the first place.

Rivera grounded out to shortstop, and Kjerstad grounded out to Keith at second to send this to the ninth. The 8-9-1 hitters would be coming up in the bottom of the ninth, meaning that Gunnar Henderson would get to the dish again. Insurance would be optimal in the top of the ninth from the Tigers’ offense.

We noted that the Twins lost Game 1 of their doubleheader with the Red Sox 8-1, so the Tigers were again tied for the last Wild Card spot, but still needing to pull ahead to nullify the tiebreaker. The Royals were also losing at home, and eventually did lose their seventh straight game as the Giants took them down.

Yennier Cano took over for the Orioles in the top of the ninth. His low arm slot power sinker/slider combo is tough, particularly for a right-hander. Spencer Torkelson fell behind but then worked the count even at 2-2. A Cano sinker got a ground ball to Henderson for the first out. McKinstry got briefly robbed of a ball four call by Beck, but Cano missed again to put the utilityman on first with Trey Sweeney at the dish.

Sweeney grounded out to get McKinstry to second with two outs, and it was up to Jake Rogers. The catcher grounded out to third, and we were on to the ninth with a 4-3 lead.

Hinch did turn right back to Foley after his tough outing yesterday and it was imperative to get the first two guys before Henderson got to the plate. Beau Brieske was also warming just in case. Urias drove a sinking liner into the right center field gap, but Meadows had him played perfectly and cruised over to make the play.

The dangerous lefty Mullins was next. In a 1-1 count, Foley broke off a nasty hard changeup for a whiff, and Mullins flew out lazily to Meadows. One more to go. Gunnar Henderson at the dish.

A first pitch slider down drew a whiff, and that was obviously not was Henderson was looking for. Foley then spotted a beauty of a changeup at the bottom of the zone for strike two. Another changeup went wide as they looked for the chase, and then they tried again with a similar result. In a 2-2 count, Foley came with the cheddar and blew him away with 98 on the outer edge.

YES!!!!

The Tigers win again. What a complete effort, pitching, defense, Carpenter and Torkelson providing the power, just a heck of a performance all around.

With the victory, the Tigers are a half game ahead of the Twins for the final Wild Card spot. The Royals lost their seventh straight, and now the Tigers are tied with KC for the second wild card spot. The Twins play again this afternoon, so we’ll see if the Tigers come out of today a game up on the Twins.

It’s all there for the Tigers now. Six games to go at home against Tampa Bay and then the lowly White Sox. Their destiny is now in their own hands, and this is just incredible to watch.

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