Today the Tigers played a straight, late-afternoon doubleheader against the visiting St. Louis Cardinals to open a three-game series, and the teams split the pair of games.
Game 1: Cardinals 2, Tigers 1
Monday’s original starter for the Tigers, Jack Flaherty, faced his former long-time club for the first time. He came up with them as a 21-year-old and was a Cardinal from 2017 to the midpoint of the 2023 season, when he was dealt to Baltimore for their stretch run. Frankly, he didn’t do too well in nine appearances, but this season has been generally solid. He’s kept the walks way down and struck out a bunch of guys, and has stayed in pretty much every game he’s started. The only trouble has been a bit too much of the old long ball.
Kyle Gibson toed the slab for the Cardinals; the longtime Minnesota Twin spent last year in Baltimore, too, although he was there for the full season. Throughout his career, Gibson has faced Detroit more than any other opponent save for the Royals, and the Tigers have generally roughed him up, to the tune of a 5.66 ERA in 27 appearances (26 starts), and a career 5.70 ERA at Comerica Park. He’d be significantly better than that today, though.
Flaherty came out absolutely sizzling-hot against his former team, striking out the first seven (!!!) batters he faced. There was plenty of swing-and-miss from the Missourians, who haven’t been swinging hot sticks lately anyway, but you had to think Flaherty was a little extra amped-up for this start. His four-seam fastball touched 98 mph, the fastest any of his pitches have been since 2019, and he was featuring the whole kitchen sink: knuckle-curves, sinkers, changeups, sliders, probably a goofball in there somewhere.
Riley Greene led off the bottom of the fourth by smashing a middle-middle fastball to straightaway centre, giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead.
Flaherty kept on rolling, and through five innings he’d struck out 12 of the 17 batters he’d faced to that point. He tied his personal career high with his 13th to end the sixth inning, and he surpassed that with his final out; in front of his mom, no less.
His final line: 6⅔ IP, 2 singles, 0 runs, 1 BB, 14 K. (Thank you, Chris Fetter.) I think this pretty much sums it up:
Editors Note: This is why I was irritated they didn’t get an option for 2025.
Andrew Chafin took over to get a lefty batter out, which he did with a popout on the third pitch he threw.
The Tigers loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh; alas, Mark Canha, pinch-hitting for Parker Meadows, struck out to end the threat. Would this bite the Tigers later on?
(Narrator: “It would.”)
Chafin stuck around to get the first out of the eighth, and a blooper into shallow centre put a runner on first; Jason Foley was then called-upon ostensibly to get a five-out save. A swinging-bunt base hit to third base put runners on first and second with one out for the top of the Cardinals’ lineup, but a flyout to left and a comebacker chopper ended the inning without incident.
Since AJ Hinch is full of surprises, Foley was out after the eighth — gotta make sure he’s available tomorrow, I guess? — and Shelby Miller was brought in for the ninth. After striking out Nootbaar for the first out, Miller gave up a trio of singles to tie the game at one, preventing Flaherty from getting the victory. Pedro Pagés then hit a deep sacrifice fly to put St. Louis ahead 2-1… so, yes, leaving the bases loaded absolutely killed the Tigers here.
Ryan Helsley was brought on to dazzle the Tigers’ hitters with triple-digit heat, and dazzle he did, nailing down the save with ease. You’ve got to hit a guy like Kyle Gibson better than that, fellas, and you’ve got to make the most of bases-loaded opportunities. Heck, try a squeeze bunt if you need to.
Game 2: Tigers 11, Cardinals 6
The nightcap featured Ol’ Reliable, Matt Manning, making his third start for the Tigers this April. (Fun fact: he’s only made two starts for the Mud Hens so far.) His two previous starts were also in doubleheaders, so the above conversation can also be applied, apparently, to the appearance of Manning in the Olde English “D” as well. Of those two starts, his first one against the Mets was solid, but his second one against the Twins was going well until it was undone by Old Friend™ Willi Castro hitting a two-run home run to seal the victory for the Minnesotans.
Steven “Gym” Matz opposed Manning; in his third year with the Redbirds, Matz’s tenure has been somewhat up-and-down. His previous five starts this season have been pretty mixed as well with a couple of nice outings, but this three starts coming into today have been clunkers; a pair against the Diamondbacks and one against the A’s. In those five starts he’s only pitched into the sixth once, and in a doubleheader the one thing a manager asks of a pitcher is to be able to soak up some innings.
In the bottom of the first, Andy Ibáñez singled with one out, Mark Canha walked, and Riley Greene hit a chopper for a double down the left-field line to score Ibáñez. Shortly thereafter, a Spencer Torkelson groundout cashed-in Canha for a 2-0 lead.
Wenceel Pérez, batting from the right side, went oppo-taco on a sinker, depositing it over the right-field fence for his second career home run and a 3-0 Detroit lead. His previous home run was from the left side, which is neat.
Ibáñez kept the party going in the third, making a sensational diving play at second base, then coming around to score on a Canha double to put the Tigers up 4-0.
I don’t speak much Spanish so I put that tweet’s headline into Google Translate and it said, and I quote, “Buddy, that was a mighty fine play.”
The Cardinals roared back in the fifth with a two-run home run in the fifth by Brendan Donovan, a laser beam to right off a 93-mph Manning fastball. After Manning couldn’t quite get the third out of the inning, putting a pair of runners on, Tyler Holton was brought in. Things absolutely did not improve, as Alec Burleson hit a three-run dinger to put St. Louis up 5-4.
In the bottom of the fifth, Canha hit an infield single, took second on a Greene groundout, and a Torkelson bloop double put runners on second and third with one out. Jake Rogers hit a grounder to short with the infield back; that scored Canha, knotting the game at fives, and pushed Torkelson up to third.
Then Pérez said, “C’mon, guys, do I have to hit another home run here? From the other side, too? Shoot, alright, here we go, then,” and the Tigers were up 7-5.
Holton got the first two outs of the sixth, and with a runner on second, Alex Faedo came on to strike out Willson Contreras with some high heat.
In the seventh, the Cardinals narrowed the lead to 7-6 with a double and a pair of singles, one of which was Paul Goldschmidt’s fourth hit of the nightcap. A groundout put runners on the corners with two outs, but a routine flyout limited the damage.
Another Greene home run, his second of the day, pushed the Tiger lead back to two in the bottom of the seventh. Torkelson walked, and a Rogers double to the left-field corner brought Tork all the way around to score and make it 9-6. Pérez walked, Javier Báez hit an infield single, and the bases were loaded with none out and a chance to bust Game 2 wide open. Parker Meadows walked, the Tigers scored their tenth run for the first time all season, and Kerry Carpenter hit a sac fly to score Pérez for an 11-6 score. They batted-around, scoring four, but with the bases loaded and one out they didn’t get any more. Call me crazy, but that’s a “squander” in my books.
Alex (Lange) relieved Alex (Faedo) with two outs in the eighth and a runner on, and got Nolan Arenado on an infield chopper to Báez; Canha, playing first, made a nifty play to tag Arenado for the third out. Lange carried on into the ninth with a five-run lead and snuffed the Cardinals out without too much trouble.
It was a split, which is nice, I guess. But the sweep was definitely in-play and it’s hard not to look at the late innings of that first game as a cautionary tale.
Numbers and Notes
- Jack Flaherty’s seven strikeouts to start a game tied the American League record, and set a Tigers record.
- In the nightcap, the Tigers set season-highs in runs and hits. Here’s hoping that means the bats have emerged from hibernation.
- If you want to see hot prospect Jackson Jobe in action, and you’re really not doing much else late on Wednesday morning (here in the Eastern time zone, anyway), you can watch the Erie/Bowie game for free through mlb.com; the action starts at 11:05 am EDT.
- On this date in 1803, the Louisiana Purchase was completed. Fifteen million bucks got the United States the vast majority of the Mississippi River watershed from France, which was a heck of a deal. After the revolts in what is now Haiti a few years before, France decided it really wasn’t in the “North American colonies” game anymore, hence the fire-sale prices. It also didn’t help that France was deep in debt and was gearing-up for a war against the United Kingdom.