Detroit Tigers manager AJ Hinch called on Robbie Grossman in the ninth inning.
The veteran leader entered as a pinch-hitter for Harold Castro with one out, trailing by two runs against the Minnesota Twins in Monday’s series opener at Target Field. He hammered a first-pitch cutter from reliever Alex Colome — who only took the mound because Taylor Rogers exited with a left middle finger sprain — over the right-field wall for a game-tying two-run home run.
But the Tigers (47-55) couldn’t complete their comeback. They lost, 6-5, in the 10th inning on Max Kepler’s walk-off single to score Kenta Maeda — the free extra-inning runner on second base — against left-handed reliever Gregory Soto.
“It looked like perfectly placed hand grenade,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said. “He got enough barrel on it to get the ball midway through the outfield. Left-on-left, it’s a pretty good at-bat by Kepler. He’s got a couple hits off Soto in the past.”
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Detroit has dropped four games in a row. The Tigers won their first seven games coming out of the All-Star break against the Twins and Texas Rangers at Comerica Park but were swept by the Kansas City Royals in three games at Kauffman Stadium.
“It’s a tough loss because we were in a position to win,” Hinch said. “We really did fight back. It’s a tale of two different halves of the game. In the first half, we had a really hard time staying with our approach. In the second half, we put up a lot better at-bats.”
Soto protected the tie in the bottom of the ninth, but not without drama. He walked Brent Rooker and Josh Donaldson, allowed them to advance with a wild pitch and walked Mitch Garver to load the bases with two outs. Pinch-hitter Willians Astudillo struck out swinging on a third-pitch 100.4 mph fastball.
Soto needed 26 pitches to record three outs in the ninth, and he used 16 pitches for two outs in the 10th frame before Kepler’s single.
“There was no conversation,” Hinch said about Soto throwing 42 pitches. “He had plenty. He was throwing 100 (mph) in the 10th, I had no problem putting him out there. There wasn’t any conversation. It was just go back out there.”
Caleb Thielbar pitched a perfect 10th to set up Minnesota’s win.
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The Twins built momentum early behind starter Michael Pineda, who allowed two runs on five hits with zero walks and six strikeouts over six innings. His only mistake came in the sixth, when Miguel Cabrera followed Jonathan Schoop’s two-out single with a home run — No. 495 of his career.
“That was huge,” catcher Eric Haase said. “We knew it was going to be a battle. He’s not going to blow you away, but he just pitched. He was changing up counts and throwing right-on-right changeups. That’s always tough. He just stayed out of the middle of the zone.”
Cabrera’s blast tied the game, but the Twins quickly responded. Tigers starter Matt Manning gave up a solo home run and was replaced by righty reliever Jose Cisnero, who allowed a crucial two-run home run to Donaldson in the sixth inning for a 5-2 Twins lead.
Minnesota turned its three-run lead to reliever Tyler Duffey for the seventh inning. Haase, the first batter Duffey faced, crushed a solo home run to left field, his 16th of the season.
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Manning advances
The last time Manning took the mound, he posted the best performance of his MLB career in a 4-2 win Wednesday over Rangers. On Monday, the 23-year-old rookie took the next step in his development in his seventh start.
He trusted his secondary pitches, got ahead in counts and worked out of the few jams he found himself in throughout five-plus innings. The most impressive aspect of Manning’s performance was his pitch mix. He threw 26% two-seam fastballs, 24% curveballs, 20% four-seam fastballs, 16% changeups and 14% sliders.
Simply, Manning didn’t overuse his fastball and kept the Twins guessing.
“I’m trying to just get better with every start,” Manning said. “I’m pretty disappointed with how this one finished out, but I’m just trying to get better with every one, win as many games as I can and eat up as many innings as I can.”
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Manning recorded four strikeouts: Rooker (swinging, curveball), Miguel Sano (swinging, changeup), Trevor Larnach (swinging, curveball) and Jake Cave (foul tip, curveball). He proved he didn’t need his heater to put the Twins away.
In the second, Donaldson and Garver recorded consecutive hits to open the inning. Both players hit Manning’s fastball, with Garver going for an RBI double to give the Twins a 1-0 lead. But Manning generated three outs in a row.
The Twins scored their second run in the fourth inning. Garver drilled a 1-1 slider for a double to left field and, after Larnach struck out, Sano ripped an 0-1 changeup single down the third-base line for a 2-0 lead. To end the inning, Haase threw out Sano trying to steal second base. (Haase also caught Garver stealing in the eighth.)
In the sixth, Manning was pulled after facing two batters.
He hung a 1-0 curveball to Rooker, who homered to give the Twins a 3-2 lead. Polanco then drew a five-pitch walk. Manning allowed four runs on five hits and one walk. He was removed after 74 pitches (47 strikes).
Going to Cisnero
That’s because Hinch wanted Cisnero to face Donaldson, one of the many dangerous hitters in the American League Central. Two pitches into the at-bat, Donaldson belted a slider for a two-run home run.
“I went to Cisnero in the middle part of that order to protect Matt a little bit, and I thought it was the right call, right-on-right (matchup),” Hinch said. “Donaldson got a pitch to hit. But I thought Manning took a step forward today, both emotionally and certainly with his performance.”
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The Tigers went to right-hander Buck Farmer for the seventh inning, now trailing by two runs after Haase’s solo homer. Two of four batters reached safely, so righty Joe Jimenez took over with two outs to face Donaldson. This time, Donaldson grounded out to end the inning.
Jimenez returned for a scoreless eighth.
Extending the streak
With Schoop’s single in the sixth inning, he extending his hitting streak to 16 games.
The streak is the longest of Schoop’s nine-year career and the longest active streak in the big leagues. In his past 16 games, Schoop is hitting .354 (23-for-65) with one home run, 11 RBIs, three walks and 12 strikeouts.
He has a .288 batting average in 98 games this season.
Evan Petzold is a sports reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.