Newcomers and Jake Rogers blast homers, but Detroit Tigers lose 10-6 to Baltimore Orioles

LAKELAND, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers lost to the Baltimore Orioles, 10-6, on Sunday at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium.

The Tigers dropped to 1-1 in Grapefruit League play.

What happened

Nick Maton wasted no time.

In his first plate appearance with the Tigers, following an offseason trade from the Philadelphia Phillies, the 26-year-old worked ahead in the count and swung at a second-pitch cutter from right-hander Dean Kremer. He launched a home run to right-center field to put the Tigers ahead 1-0 in the first inning.

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The 89.7 mph pitch didn’t stand a chance at the top of the strike zone, especially not against a left-handed hitter who crushes righties, fastballs and pitches up in the zone.

The Orioles, though, scored nine runs in the fifth inning.

In the ninth, the Tigers drew four walks and scored their final run (on a bases-loaded walk to Julio E. Rodriguez). Parker Meadows struck out swinging with the bases loaded to end the game.

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Starting off

Left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez pitched two scoreless innings.

He worked efficiently, throwing 19 of 23 pitches for strikes, and worked around two hits from the Orioles. Of those 23 pitches, he tossed 15 four-seam fastballs, which averaged 91.7 mph.

Rodriguez, 29, established his fastball in the first inning.

In the second inning, Franchy Cordero lined out to left fielder Kerry Carpenter after Jordan Westburg’s infield single between Rodriguez and first baseman Spencer Torkelson. Carpenter, who completed a basket catch while sliding, should have turned a double play, but he overthrew the cutoff man.

The next batter, Lewin Diaz, grounded into an inning-ending double play.

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At the plate

The Tigers collected three hits through five innings.

All three hits were home runs: Maton, Matt Vierling (acquired with Maton in the deal that sent Gregory Soto to Philadelphi) and Jake Rogers went yard. In the fifth inning, César Hernández worked a leadoff walk before Vierling crushed a two-run homer from former Tigers pitcher Reed Garrett.

The ball traveled 377 feet, bouncing off the left-field foul pole, and was hit with a 103 mph exit velocity.

Two batters later, Rogers joined the party with an opposite-field solo home run. He took two high-and-outside fastballs from Garrett for called strikes. The third pitch, in the same location, traveled 361 feet to right field.

In the sixth inning, Jermaine Palacios hit an RBI single against former Tigers farmhand Kyle Dowdy.

Still, the Tigers trailed 9-5.

Spencer Torkelson, looking to bounce back from a miserable rookie season, flied out to the center-field warning track in the second inning, his first at-bat in spring training.

The distance: 415 feet.

Indeed, Torkelson’s deep flyout would have been a home run with the new dimensions at Comerica Park. When the Tigers return to Detroit in April, the center-field wall will measure 412 feet.

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On the mound

Left-hander Chasen Shreve struck out two batters in a scoreless third inning, and right-hander Rony García struck out another two batters in a scoreless fourth. Shreve threw 15 pitches (11 strikes) and had four swings and misses, while García fired 12 pitches (eight strikes) and had three whiffs.

After that, the Tigers’ bullpen crumbled.

Lefty Jace Fry allowed six runs on five hits and one walk. Righty Layne Henderson, pulled up from minor-league camp after being acquired from the Houston Astros in the minor-league phase of the Rule 5 draft, entered with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth inning.

Lewin Diaz hit a three-run home run off Henderson’s hanging splitter, putting the Orioles ahead 9-1. Right-hander Austin Bergner, also from minor-league camp, struck out ex-Tiger Daz Cameron to end the nine-run, 14-batter inning.

Right-hander Kevin Castro pitched the sixth inning. The 24-year-old filled up the strike zone and threw six curveballs and four fastballs. His fastball averaged 96.5 mph and maxed out at 97.3 mph.

Righty Brenan Hanifee worked around a leadoff walk in the seventh. He returned for the eighth but gave up a leadoff double and an RBI single to ex-Tiger Josh Lester for the Orioles’ 10th run.

Hanifee threw 38 pitches (25 strikes) in his two innings and struck out three batters. Right-hander Brendan White, a newly added member of the 40-man roster and a 26-round pick in 2019, pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning with two strikeouts on eight pitches.

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