If you watched the first inning of this game and I told you one of the pitchers wouldn’t make it through the third inning, you would be shocked for me to later tell you it was not Kenta Maeda who got the early hook.
The game saw Maeda up against Zach Plesac for the Angels.
The Tigers went 1-2-3 in the top of the first. In the bottom half Nolan Schanuel singled, then Luis Rengifo homered to put the Angels up 2-0 early. Three outs followed, but it wasn’t an ideal first inning.
The second was 1-2-3 for both teams.
In the third, with two outs, the wheels seemed to come off entirely for Plesac. Ryan Kreidler singled, then cue “Walk This Way”: Wenceel Perez walked, Riley Greene walked, Matt Vierling walked to score Kreidler. Then a Mark Canha walk scored Perez and the game was tied. That was it for Plesac, obviously, who was replaced by Jose Marte who managed to get the final out of the inning. In the home half Luis Guillorme singled, then got caught stealing as Schanuel struck out. A groundout then ended the inning.
Andy Ibanez singled to start the third. Three outs followed. In the bottom half Kevin Pillar got a one-out single, then Logan O’Hoppe walked. Maeda pitched out of the jam, though.
Matt Moore came in to replace Marte, and got the Tigers out in order. Guillorme got a one-out single in the bottom half, but was eliminated on a double play to end the inning.
Hunter Strickland was the next pitcher out of the Angels’ pen, and got the Tigers out in order. With one out in the bottom half Taylor Ward singled, but Maeda got hurt trying to cover first base to potentially get the out. It’s unclear what happened to him, but it looked uncomfortable. His final line was 5.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 HR on 87 pitches. Not his worst outing after he settled in from the first-inning issues, but also not a great outing overall. Will Vest came in and got the last two outs.
Top of the seventh the Tigers were three-up, three-down. Andrew Chafin came in for the Tigers in relief after one out. Jo Adell doubled on an embarrassing outfield gaffe from Ibanez. Thankfully it didn’t hurt the Tigers and Chafin took care of the rest of the inning without issue by punching out Guillorme.
Luis Garcia was the next Angels pitcher up and the Tigers went 1-2-3 for the sixth time in the game. In the bottom half the Tigers turned to Shelby Miller. Luis Rengifo got a one-out single, followed by a Taylor Ward single. Then Logan O’Hoppe got a first pitch splitter right in the meatball zone and bashed a two-out home run to give the Angels a very decisive lead considering the Tigers wholesale lack of hitting.
Carlos Estevez came out to finish off the game, and that was just what he did.