Detroit Tigers prospect Parker Meadows hits 5th home run in 4-1 win over Toronto Blue Jays

DUNEDIN, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 4-1, on Saturday at TD Ballpark.

The Tigers are 13-16 in Grapefruit League play.

What happened

Facing right-hander Sem Robberse, the Tigers scored four runs on two hits in the third inning. The first two batters, Ryan Kreidler and Zack Short, reached base safely on a throwing error and hit-by-pitch, respectively.

Catcher Jake Rogers, who has impressed both at and behind the plate in his return from Tommy John surgery, cranked a fastball down the middle of the strike zone and produced a double with a 107.4 mph exit velocity.

Kreidler scored for a 1-0 lead.

“I’m feeling good,” Rogers said. “My timing has been good all spring. I felt a little bad last game, but I worked with (hitting coach Michael) Brdar the last couple mornings and got back on track. The swing feels good. The timing feels good. The catching feels good. I’m ready to go.”

Parker Meadows caught an 85.9 mph cutter at the bottom of the zone and punished the ball to right-center field for a three-run home run, increasing the margin to 4-0. He hit it with a 108.5 mph exit velocity.

The Tigers already optioned Meadows to Triple-A Toledo, meaning he won’t make the Opening Day roster, but the 22-year-old has five home runs in spring training. He also has a .317 batting average in 21 games.

This spring, Meadows and Nick Maton are tied for the team lead in homers.

“It seems like the game is slowing down for him a little bit,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “Obviously, he can do a ton of damage. There’s still some swing and miss in there. He’s got plenty to work on, but he’s an exciting young player who teaches us every day that we need to be patient with young players and not expect them to be perfect right out of the draft.”

Starting off

Left-hander Tyler Alexander hadn’t put together back-to-back successful outings until throwing three scoreless innings against the Blue Jays. The strong effort built on his 1⅓ scoreless innings earlier in the week against the New York Yankees.

This time, he didn’t allow a base runner.

“He was very efficient,” Hinch said. “They came out swinging. He’s pitched against them before, and they’re familiar with him, and he continued to pound the strike zone, which was good. … Nine up, nine down against that lineup this time in spring is pretty impressive.”

Alexander retired George Springer, Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on six pitches in the first inning. All three grounded out. He struck out Whit Merrifield with an up-and-away cutter for the third out in the second inning.

He threw 20 of 34 pitches for strikes in his three innings.

Alexander, who relied on soft contact rather than strikeouts, tossed nine changeups, eight cutters, eight four-seam fastballs, five sinkers and four sliders. His fastball averaged 88.6 mph.

“I spent the offseason trying to throw harder,” Alexander said. “At the end of the day, when I feel good, I’m mindless out there. I’m not thinking. I’m not trying to throw hard. I’m not trying to make things move. I just do it.

“Maybe at the start of camp I was still a little focused on trying to throw hard. If I have more velo, it will be there from mechanical changes, adrenaline, stuff like that. It’s not that I stopped trying to throw hard. I just got into comfortable mechanics.”

At the plate

The Tigers had a chance to add runs in the sixth, thanks to a one-out walk from Colt Keith and a two-out single from Kreidler. But Short struck out swinging on three consecutive up-and-in pitches.

Another chance to score came in the seventh inning, Andrew Knapp and Matt Vierling notched singles, but with one out, Riley Greene grounded into a forceout and Jonathan Schoop struck out looking on a pitch below the strike zone.

Vierling finished 2-for-4 with two singles.

The 26-year-old, acquired by the Tigers from the Philadelphia Phillies in the offseason, is hitting .321 with two home runs, one walk and three strikeouts across 32 plate appearances over 10 games.

Kreidler went 1-for-3 with one walk and one strikeout. He struck out on three straight pitches — all inside the strike zone — in the eighth inning against right-handed reliever Luke Bard.

His swing decisions were exceptional.

On the mound

Right-handers Jason Foley and Jose Cisnero relieved Alexander and tossed scoreless fourth and fifth innings, respectively, though both relievers allowed one walk and one hit before escaping trouble.

Foley struck out Daulton Varsho (swinging strike, 90.4 mph changeup) and Matt Chapman (called strike, 87.5 mph slider). Cisnero, meanwhile, included back-to-back ground balls against Danny Jansen, who grounded into a double play, and Santiago Espinal.

“His arm strength is coming pretty strong,” Hinch said of Foley. “His fastball velocity will bring his slider with it, so the better that he’s throwing his fastball at 96-97 (mph), the better his slider has become because he can grip it and rip it.”

Left-hander Jace Fry walked three batters in the sixth inning but didn’t allow a run. Fellow left-hander Miguel Del Pozo, recently reassigned to minor-league camp, pitched and retired the side in the seventh.

The Blue Jays scored for the first time in the eighth inning.

Right-hander Yaya Chentouf, elevated from minors camp, quickly generated two outs before a single and three walks. Righty Dario Gardea, also from minors camp, pitched the ninth and surrendered three walks before being lifted with two outs. RJ Petit issued another walk before finally getting the game-ending groundout.