Tigers 6, Royals 3: The kids are alright, again

Riley Greene led off the second, and he lined a ball to right field, and Jac Caglionone froze much like Pérez as the fading late day sun was directly into the right fielder’s eyes. Pérez was up next and he flipped a soft pop-up into shallow right field and again Caglianone looked like he never saw it off the bat. The ball got down, but Greene had to wait to see if it would drop and was thrown out by second baseman Nick Loftin at second. Spencer Torkelson took a curveball for strike three, Hao-Yu Lee, who hits for most of his power against lefties, crushed a drive off the right field wall for an RBI triple. So it was up to (checks notes) Zack Short? to drive in Lee from third. Shorty got into a full count, fouled off a cutter in on his hands, and then drew a walk. Nicely done.

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That left it up to Matt Vierling, and he came through, cranking a drive off the wall in left centerfield. Lee scored, Short raced around from first to score, and Vierling cruised into third with a double and a one-base error after the Kyle Isbell had some trouble getting the ball in. 3-0 Tigers. Hamilton started McGonigle off with a pair of sliders on the outer edge. The Royals wasted a challenge on one of them, but in the end McGonigle slapped a broken bat grounder to Loftin for the final out.

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Loftin drew a walk from Hurter to start the bottom half, but Caglianone grounded one to Torkelson, who fired to second to get the lead runner. Elias Diaz struck out as Hurter jammed him with a sinker, and Isbell lined out to Torkelson. Good defense from Torkelson in the inning.

Jahmai Jones opened the third with a rocket one-hopper that Maikel Garcia made a great diving play on, but the throw went a little wide and Pasquantino whiffed on it. They ruled it a single as Dingler dug into the batter’s box. Cameron was already at 60 pitches as Dingler drew a walk. This new Riley Greene with added plate discipline has been a rare nice development in the first quarter of the season. He worked a full count, but this time he chased a high heater for strike three. Pérez fouled off a pair of changeups and eventually worked a full count as well, but another changeup got a pop-up to Loftin. Eventually all this discpline and deep counts have to pay off, right? Not this time, as Cameron got ahead in the count pitching Torkelson in and then back-footed a slider for a whiff to turn the Tigers away.

Drew Anderson took over in the bottom of the third to take on the right-handed top of the Royals order. Garcia greeted Anderson with a double into the right field corner. An 0-1 changeup to Witt saw a grounder up the middle that tipped off Anderson’s glove. Lee cut across in front of Short moving toward third base, and couldn’t make the play as Garcia took third base. Anderson missed well down with a 2-2 changeup, and Pasquantino grounded a fastball away through the left side to score Garcia as Witt raced to third. That brought Chris Fetter out for a chat. Anderson responded by falling behind 2-0, but then worked back into 2-2 count and punched Collins with a power curve down and in for a whiff. That brought up Jensen and a first pitch slider was right down the middle. A fly ball deep to right field was caught by Pérez, but the sacrifice fly cut the lead to 3-2. Anderson punched out Loftin with a good changeup to finally get the Tigers off the field.

Lee flew out to right to open the fourth inning. Short flew out to deep left center field as Cameron neared 90 pitches. Vierling followed with a rocket to center field, but it was too low and Isbell hauled it in.

Anderson started the bottom half giving up an opposite field double to Caglianone. He bounced back to blow away Diaz and whiffed Isbell on a curveball. Unfortunately, that brought up Garcia again and he lined an RBI single to center to tie the game. The throw from Vierling should’ve gone to second, but Vierling tried to fire it home with no chance to get Caglianone, and that gave Garcia second base with Witt at the plate. Fortunately Witt flew out to left to end the inning. Still, after a bunch of solid outings in a row, Anderson had coughed up a three-run lead as we headed to the fifth inning.

Cameron was still on the mound despite being over 90 pitches, but he was just there to get McGonigle. The rookie nearly homered just down the right field line, but it went foul, and so he singled to center field instead. That brought John Schreiber into the game in relief of Cameron. That took Jones out of the game, with Colt Keith pinch-hitting for him as the DH. After another long at-bat, Keith flew out softly to left field. Dingler worked a full count and then chased two fastballs up and whiffed to strike out. Schreiber fell behind to Riley Greene and didn’t appear to want anything to do with him as the Tigers’ left fielder walked, but Pérez’s struggles hitting left-handed continued and he tapped back to Schreiber to squander the chance.

Enmanuel de Jesus took over in the bottom half, and he racked up three quick outs on balls in play. The middle out was a rocket to center from Isaac Collins, but Vierling hauled it in to send this to the sixth.

Nick Mears took over for the Royals, and Torkelson greeted him with a solid single to start the inning. Zach McKinstry pinch-hit for Hao-Yu Lee, but he took a pair of called strikes and then chased a slider down and popped out to shallow left. That brought up newly promoted infielder, Gage Workman, hitting for Short. An 0-1 fastball clanged off Diaz’s glove to the backstop but Torkelson read it poorly and didn’t advance. That didn’t matter, because Mears hung a breaking ball down and in and Workman launched it just fair down the right field foul line for his first major league home run. You’ve gotta love it.

Workman was teammates with Torkelson back at Arizona State and drafted by the Tigers in 2020 as well, as their fourth rounder in the five round draft. He struck out way too much, and eventually had to ditch switch-hitting and go lefty full-time, but he’s always had good power and speed, and solid defense at third base and decent shortstop too in a pinch. He was taken by the Cubs in the 2024 Rule 5 draft and got a look at the majors with them, and briefly the White Sox, last summer before being returned. It’s been a long road to get to the majors with the Tigers, but Workman has been white hot for a month in Toledo and finally got the call. Way to announce your arrival, Gage. 5-3 Tigers.

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That blow was followed by a Vierling strikeout, and Matt Quatraro turned to lefty Daniel Lynch IV against McGonigle. The rookie drew a walk, but Keith popped out again to end the frame.

De Jesus got Loftin on a pop-up, and then a deep flyout from Caglianone out to Vierling. Diaz grounded out to McKinstry to end the inning, and that was six straight outs for de Jesus, though with precious few whiffs involved. Could the Tigers now go three innings without allowing two runs? The Magic 8-ball says “reply hazy, try again.”

Dingler struck out to start the seventh, but Riley Greene pulled a hot ground ball down the right field line for a double. Pérez, hitting right-handed now, spanked a grounder back through the box for a single. Isbell pointlessly fired home with Greene easily scoring, and that let Wenceel take second base. 6-3 Tigers. That brought Torkelson to the plate, and it brought Quatraro out to call on old friend Alex Lange and the turtleneck of destiny. Pérez, knowing Lange’s long history of failure in holding runners, tried to exploit it by stealing third, but Diaz cut him down by a foot. Trying to get to third with Torkelson at the plate and one out is worth the attempt, but instead there were two outs, and after Torkelson walked, McKinstry grounded out to end the frame.

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Lane Thomas pinch-hit for Isbell against the southpaw de Jesus to start the bottom half. De Jesus froze him with a good fastball on the bottom rail for strike three. Thomas lost the Royals last challenge on that one, but was wrong. So that was seven straight outs from de Jesus, and that was the end of his night with Garcia and Witt coming up. Hinch turned to Kyle Finnegan, hoping to get five outs from him and then presumably turn this over to Kenley Jansen in the ninth.

Instead, Finnegan took over and walked Garcia on four straight pitches. Witt pulled a hard grounder to third, and Workman fired to McKinstry and on to first for a 5-4-3 double play to send us to the eighth.

Workman flew out to left center field to start the inning. Vierling and McGonigle grounded out, and we were on to the bottom of the eighth.

Finnegan quickly gave up a sharp single to center field from Pasquantino. Collins bounced one to Torkelson, who fired to McGonigle to cut down Pasquantino. Jensen fell behind 1-2, but a pair of balls made it a full count and Finnegan missed down to walk him. Finnegan’s walk rate is already horrendous and it was getting worse in this game. Michael Massey pinch-hit for Loftin, but grounded into a slick 4-6-3 double play to end the inning. On to the ninth.

Right-hander Steven Cruz took over from Lange in the top of the ninth and just blew Keith away with high 90’s fastballs. Dingler worked a full count and smoked a cutter away up the left center field gap for a double. In a 1-1 count, Riley Greene challenged a fastball just off the outer edge successfully and so it was 2-1 and Cruz missed away again and then up to walk him as Greene reached for the fourth time in this one. Pérez popped up to third base, and Torkelson struck out.

So it was Kenley Jansen time. The right-hander hadn’t pitched in six days, and perhaps that allowed the slight groin strain he was dealing with for a few weeks to abate. Either way, he went through the Royals with no trouble, breaking Caglisnone’s bat on a baby bloop to Workman at third, and then blowing away Marte and Thomas to end it.

The Tigers move back to 19-22, tied with the Royals for third and a half game behind the White Sox. They’ll have a day off on Monday to rest their bullpen before tackling the struggling Mets on the road on Tuesday.