Ding’s Big Swing Provides Tigers With An Early Cushion In Win Against Rangers

Ding’s Big Swing Provides Tigers With An Early Cushion In Win Against Rangers

These cold night games are a lot more bearable when the team is winning—just an observation. Regardless of the weather, it was an awesome atmosphere tonight, and thankfully Detroit came ready to play, pouncing on Kumar Rocker early and often. It can’t be overstated what a huge swing that was from Dillon Dingler. Joey Cora’s decision to send Gleyber Torres felt like a rally killer. Coming away from that with three runs provided a huge spark.

I know that in the early part of this season, we had some very clear concerns with this offense, and while no lineup is perfect, they’ve looked like one of the best in the American League over the last few weeks. Kumar Rocker was a mess this evening, and the Tigers made sure he stayed in the torture chamber. Whether it was working counts, making hard contact, or stealing bases, it felt like the Tigers were on him all night. Sadly for Detroit, that night only lasted two innings.

Keider Montero was sensational, and a much-needed reset for this rotation following another ugly Jack Flaherty outing last night (I’m still annoyed by that one). I don’t see Montero ever turning into a great starting pitcher, but every so often, he’s going to be capable of pitching like one, and we saw that on display tonight. You had to use a lot of pitchers yesterday, and tomorrow is a bullpen day, so for Montero to give them the quality frames he gave them tonight sets things up very well for this staff in the future on this home stand.

Detroit will look to take the series tomorrow on Peacock. As of now, there is no official word on who will be starting, but A.J. Hinch said before this series that Sunday will be a bullpen day. Pitching chaos is officially back for the Tigers. They will match up against Kumar Rocker’s former college teammate and Vanderbilt great .