The Tigers kept them on their toes, but couldn’t get the win.
We returned to Dodger Stadium for night two of the Tigers’ Opening Series against the Dodgers , and this time it was Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound for the Dodgers and Jack Flaherty for the Tigers. Kind of a fun series for Flaherty as he will get to collect his World Series ring from playing with the 2024 Dodgers, right after facing off against his old club. But he was all business and had no problem striking out his old pals.
Yamamoto had just come off a great start in Japan and his cutter and change-up pitches were doing a fine job of keeping Tigers’ batters off balance.
In the top of the first Kerry Carpenter got a one-out single, then Riley Greene followed it with a single of his own. Unfortunately the struggle with runners in scoring position continued and the Tigers left two stranded as Torkelson and then Keith struck out. In the home half, Flaherty struggled with his command against Shohei Ohtani, and Ohtani won the standoff with a leadoff walk. But a double play and a flyout ended the inning scoreless.
With one out in the top of the second, Dillon Dingler hit a Dillon Dinger with a solo home run to put the Tigers on the board first. Two outs followed, but it was first blood for the Tigers. Into the bottom half Flaherty looked great, getting three outs in a row. One of which was a hilarious and delightful flyout off the bat of Teoscar Hernandez to a sliding Kerry Carpenter.
Top of the third and the Tigers weren’t slowing down as Gleyber Torres hit a leadoff home run.
Unfortunately Torres seemed to tweak something in his back, showing obvious signs of discomfort as he touched his back while rounding the bases, and as soon as he returned to the dugout he headed immediately to the clubhouse to get checked. Carpenter and Riley Greene had back-to-back groundouts, but then Spencer Torkelson reached on a single. THEN HE STOLE SECOND. WHO IS HE? Colt Keith walked to put two men on, but a McKinstry groundout ended the inning with no extra runs.
As the team took the field in the bottom half of the inning Torres was at his place on second, so it would appear whatever was hurting him wasn’t too serious. Fingers crossed that remains the case. He didn’t need to do anything fancy on the bases, as Flaherty got three outs in order.
The fourth inning saw three quick outs for the Tigers. When things got turned over to the Dodgers, Ohtani flied out to center. Two more quick outs followed (one with some nice motion from Torres… he looked okay) and the Dodgers were sent back to the bench.
Torres walked to lead off the fifth inning, but three outs following (including a Torkelson strikeout I would have liked the ABS for) to give Yamamoto his 10th strikeout for the night. Teoscar Hernandez walked to start the home half of the fifth. Then with one out Tommy Edman singled to put two on. Michael Conforto grounded into a force out that got Hernandez to third, Edman out at second, and Conforto safe at first. Then Andy Pages was hit by a pitch and got the free base to load the bases with two outs. An Austin Barnes flyout got Flaherty and the Tigers out of the jam.
Anthony Banda was in for the sixth inning to replace Yamamoto and got the Tigers out in order. Bottom of the sixth and things, well… things went poorly. Mookie Betts got a one-out single, then Freddie Freeman homered to tie the game. Kind of a bummer for Flaherty who had otherwise been having a solid night. Flaherty got Hernandez out, but that was it for him for the night. His final line was 5.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 1 HR on 83 pitches. Tyler Holton was out of the pen for the Tigers with one out left to get. And get it he did in very short and impressive fashion.
Kirby Yates was next out of the Dodgers’ never-ending pen. Yates wasted no time getting the Tigers out 1-2-3. Holton returned the favor by getting the Dodgers out in order, though admittedly the Conforto flyout had me hiding my eyes briefly.
Alex Vesia was the next Dodgers’ reliever and he quickly got a pinch-hitting Manuel Margot out. Riley Greene followed with a groundout, but Torkelson continues to boggle minds and he doubled, because he can apparently do anything. Andy Ibanez came in to pinch-hit for Keith. And in a nice patient at-bat, Ibanez got the walk. Then McKinstry got a walk to load the bases, and suddenly things were interesting. Alas, Dingler couldn’t repeat his heroics and left them all stranded with a strikeout. Will Vest came in for the Tigers in the bottom of the eighth. Then, with two outs in the inning, Mookie Betts hit a solo home run to give the Dodgers the lead. The Tigers did challenge, claiming (rightly) fan interference. The review favored the Dodgers and the home run call stood.
Down to the last three outs and the Tigers would face Tanner Scott. Trey Sweeney got a leadoff single, then Kreidler grounded into a force out to eliminate Sweeney and keep Kreidler safe on first. Then with two outs Manuel Margot singled to score Kreidler and re-tie the game. Riley Greene hit a ball to deep right, seeming to score Margot and give the Tigers the lead, but the Dodgers challenged the safe call and it was ultimately overturned to keep the game tied at 3 heading into the bottom of the inning. There wasn’t a conclusive angle so that was frustrating.
Well, the Tigers should have started the bottom of the ninth with a lead, but the baseball gods only love the Dodgers, so it wasn’t to be. Tommy Kahnle came in for the Tigers, hoping to hold the Dodgers hitless to give the Tigers another chance to bat, and he did just that, taking the game into extras.
Luis Garcia was the newest reliever and is EVERY reliever they have going to be able to throw high 90s with command? This series can’t end soon enough. With two outs, they intentionally walked… McKinstry? Then Dingler tripled as Michael Conforto dove and failed on a liner to left, scoring ghost runner Riley Greene and McKinstry.
Beau Breiske came out in the bottom of the tenth. Michael Conforto hit a ground-rule double to score ghost runner Tommy Edman. At that moment, the MLB TV broadcast crashed for everyone, because timing is hilarious. Then a pinch-hitting Will Smith hit a single to score Conforto and we were back to tied with Shohei Ohtani up to hit. And he immediately singled to advance Smith to third. Ohtani advanced to second on defensive indifference. Mookie Betts got to be the hero for the night, battling into a 3-2 count and then golfing a changeup into the night with a walk-off home run to end the game.
RHP Reese Olson will take on RHP Roki Sasaki at 9:10 p.m. ET on Saturday night to wrap up the series. Against the majority of teams, you like Olson over another team’s third starter, but Sasaki is pretty likely to make this another low scoring game early. Hopefully Olson can do the same.