Tigers 8, A’s 0: All’s well that Enns well

A nice bookend to the series.

After a rough shutout loss in Wednesday evening’s game, the Tigers were hoping to wrangle a series win against the A’s on Thursday afternoon. They turned to newly called-up Dietrich Enns to take the start, while the A’s relied on Jeffrey Springs.

In the first, Enns got the A’s out in order. For the Tigers it was much the same against Springs, and they went three-up, three-down.

Gio Urshela got a two-out walk for the A’s in the second, but a groundout ended the inning without any damage done. In the home half, Spencer Torkelson kicked things off in a big way (and a nice sign given his recently sluggish bat), with a solo home run. Three outs followed, but the Tigers were the first on the board.

Max Schuemann singled to start the third, then successfully stole second. Denzel Clarke drew a walk. A flyout and double play did manage to end the inning with nothing for the A’s to get too excited about. In the home half, Parker Meadows got a one-out single, then Gleyber Torres drew a walk. Then Jahmai Jones came up and hit a two-run double. It was the only scoring play of the inning but it was a good one.

The top of the fourth was another 1-2-3 for the A’s. Go Enns! With one out in the home half, Zach McKinstry doubled, followed by a Javier Baez single. McKinstry got caught in a rundown trying to steal third, but the effort to get McKinstry allowed Baez to get to second. Jake Rogers then took a walk. The Tigers would ultimately have to settle for two baserunners and no runs, but at least they made it interesting.

Enns continued to clear his way through the A’s with another three-up, three-down. That was it for him after five with a final line of 5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K, 0 HR on 77 pitches. A really nice outing from a pitcher we haven’t seen at the MLB level in several years. The Central Michigan grad has the Chippewas fired up, no doubt.

The Tigers went down in order in the home half.

Brenan Hanifee came on in the top of the sixth. Jacob Wilson got a one-out single, but a double play quickly eliminated the baserunner and ended the inning. J.T. Ginn replaced Springs in the home half, and McKinstry got a two-out single. He then stole second. Javier Baez then reached on a throwing error by Max Muncy, but McKinstry got tagged out running for home to end the inning.

Tyler Holton was next out of the pen and gave up a single to Nick Kurtz. Then Max Muncy and Luis Urias got back-to-back force outs, eliminating first Kurtz and then Muncy. A lineout ended the inning. With one out in the home half, Parker Meadows singled. Then Gleyber Torres hit a two-run homer to extend the Tigers’ lead.

Kerry Carpenter came in to pinch-hit for Jones and singled. Riley Greene grounded into what was initially ruled a force out at second against Carpenter, but looked like a double play. The A’s contested the safe call at first, which was one of those very close calls, and the safe call was overturned, ending the inning.

Chase Lee came out of the Tigers’ pen for the eighth and he got the A’s out in order. In the bottom of the inning, T.J. McFarland came out in relief. Spencer Torkelson and Wenceel Perez hit back-to-back singles. McKinstry then hit a two-run triple. That triple has McKinstry tied for first in the AL in triples. With one out, Jake Rogers hit a sac fly to score McKinstry. The Tigers were up 8-0 at the end of the eighth.

Will Vest came out for the ninth, just to get some reps in, since he hadn’t thrown in a game for a week. He did precisely what he needed to do, getting the final three outs of the game.

Final: Tigers 8, A’s 0