The Tigers won their ninth game out of their last 11 on Friday night, kicking off the second half the right way. Jack Flaherty spun a good game while Wenceel Pérez and Mark Canha homered to take down the Blue Jays 5-4 in the Rogers Centre.
This was a pretty good pitching matchup to start the second half. RHP Chris Bassitt isn’t at all overpowering, but with good command and quality stuff he can be tough. He mixes a cutter in with his 92 mph sinker and has a good curveball to boot.
On the Tigers side, Jack Flaherty took the mound no doubt aware of the presence of a host of scouts from contenders. Chris Ilitch and Scott Harris were also in attendance sitting together.
Colt Keith smoked a ball the opposite way in the top of the first, and the Blue Jays had a pair of solidly struck outs, but Flaherty punched out Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with a perfect fastball down and away for a called third strike to end the first. The Tigers right-hander hit 95 mph pretty regularly and broke off some outstanding knuckle curves, looking like the back issue is under control.
Mark Canha drew a one-out walk in the top of the second and moved up on a ground out from Zach McKinstry. Carson Kelly flew out to left to strand Canha at second. Flaherty got a couple of quick outs on routine contact and then carved up Dalton Varsho swinging to send it to the third inning.
The Tigers got a leadoff single from Gio Urshela to open the third, but he was doubled off when Ryan Vilade popped a broken bat liner right to Bassitt. Wenceel Pérez, leading off the Tigers lineup in this one, ripped a solid single to right but Colt Keith popped out.
Flaherty got a pop-out, a weak ground out, and then punched out Kevin Kiermaier for his third strikeout. He only needed 31 pitches to get through the first three perfect frames.
Matt Vierling smoked a leadoff double into the left field corner to lead off the fourth. Riley Greene brought him home with a hard grounder through the right side of the infield. 1-0 Tigers. Mark Canha then got a hanging changeup and lifted it deep to left for a two-run shot. 3-0 Tigers.
Jack Flaherty came back out for the fourth and just continued to cruise. Two more routine outs and a strikeout continued the perfect game attempt, and Flaherty was only at 47 pitches through four innings.
The Tigers went in order in the fifth, and Justin Turner welcomed Flaherty back to the mound with the first hard hit ball of the day. Still, Riley Greene had no trouble running it down just in front of the warning track. In a 3-2 count, Bo Bichette poked a single down the right field line to end any thoughts of perfecto or no-no. Then a blooper off the bat of Varsho was misplayed by Ryan Vilade and suddenly Flaherty had some real trouble on his hands.
Pitching out of the stretch for the first time, Flaherty was well up to the challenge. He struck out Alejandro Kirk and Ernie Clement to send the Blue Jays back to the drawing board heading into the sixth inning. They did get his pitch count up to 72, however, so he probably wasn’t going to go more than another inning.
The Tigers went 1-2-3 in the sixth, and Flaherty quickly struck out Kiermaier again to open the bottom half. That was seven strikeouts, with one single allowed, and no walks to this point. George Springer gave him an eight pitch battle but a beautiful slider drew a wild whiff for the second out.
Spencer Horowitz put up a good battle as well, refusing to chase the breaking stuff, and he drew the Blue Jays first walk. The timing could’ve been better with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. coming to the plate, so Chris Fetter came out to give him a breather and talk over the game plan. Flaherty was starting to miss more as his pitch count climbed into the 90’s. Guerrero Jr. locked up into a real battle with Flaherty as well, and on the ninth pitch of the AB, a slider hung right over the plate and the first baseman smoked it 117.5 mph to left for a two-run shot. 3-2 Tigers.
Will Vest took over and a Justin Turner blooper dropped in front of Pérez in right field as he worried about the big bounces in the Rogers Centre. That brought Bichette back to the plate. Vest got ahead 0-2 but Bichette really put up a fight as well and worked the count to 3-2. He then smoked a slicing drive to right that was tailing toward the line. Pérez got a great jump and ran it down in the nick of time to end the inning. Bichette pulled up lame on the way to first base with a left leg injury, and it looked bad. The Blue Jays tough season continues.
Suddenly, in the top of the seventh the Tigers needed to pour on the offense as Bassitt entered his final inning. A one-out single from Urshela gave them an opportunity. Vilade struck out, but Bassitt’s night ended just like Flaherty’s when Wenceel Pérez launched a two-run shot to right for his sixth home run. George Springer lost the ball and was standing there holding his arms out in despair as the ball flew 40 feet over his head.
Pérez continues to hold up despite struggling after his hot start. Currently holding a 100 wRC+ and heating up again perhaps. 5-2 Tigers.
Andrew Chafin took over in the seventh. He fired a 94 mph fourseamer on outer half to freeze Dalton Varsho for the first out. That’s one of the hottest fastballs I’ve ever seen him throw. Kirk grounded out on a nice play by McKinstry at shortstop as Vierling crossed in front of him. Urshela made a sweet pick on that play as well, and then Ernie Clement flew out to Pérez in right field for a snappy inning by the left-hander.
The Tigers went quickly in the eighth, and Beau Brieske took over in the bottom half. Kevin Kiermaier greeted him with a single, and that’s not a guy you really want on base even now as an older player. His speed didn’t matter, as Brieske then surrendered a two-run shot to George Springer. Ooof. 5-4 Tigers.
Spencer Horowitz then smoked a single to center field, and Brieske again was looking extremely shaky. Steward Barroa took over to pinch run. With no outs recorded, A.J. had had enough of that and went to the pen for Jason Foley against Guerrero Jr. Foley got a shallow fly out there for the first out of the inning. Barroa then did his job, stealing second base against Foley’s slowish delivery. Justin Turner grounded out, and Foley just needed to get Leo Jimenez, Bichette’s replacement at shortstop. Foley was dialing the sinker up to 98-99 in this outing and Jimenez grounded out to end the inning.
So, into the top of the ninth with a one-run lead. Unfortunately, the Tigers went quickly and couldn’t add on. So it was up to Tyler Holton against Varsho-Kirk-Clement. Varsho grounded out to Keith at second. Kirk flew out routinely to left, despite the home crowd briefly dreaming of a homer. Holton had Clement all out of sorts, and got a little tapper back to the mound. Holton fired to first and it was another Tigers’ victory.
RHP Reese Olson takes on LHP Yusei Kikuchi tomorrow.
The Tigers are now 10-4 in July, with a history of strong second half performances under Hinch. They also appear to have gotten their act together and a little fire going. Here’s hoping.
Tigers News
Matt Manning hit the 7-day IL today with a lat strain. Those never seen to heal as quickly as they’re supposed to so the Mud Hens could use another starting pitcher. I know a guy in Erie…
The Tigers signed fifth round pick, SS Jack Penney, on Friday for $397,500. Slot was $462,300.
INF Eddys Leonard started a rehab assignment in Lakeland on Friday evening.
The Tigers didn’t promote any of their minor leaguers on Friday. Presumably they’re waiting until they start assigning their new draft picks. Still, considering that most of them are pitchers, and the Tigers probably won’t have any of them throw in games this summer, there really isn’t anything to wait for.
On this day in history
I’ll throw in two notes here in tribute to the mighty JT Law’s recap style.
The Great Fire of Rome, apocryphally accompanied by Emperor Nero’s fiddle, broke out on this day in the year 64. It started in the Palatine Hill district and over several days completely burnt out three of Rome’s 14 districts.
Also, on this day in 1943, the Allies began bombing Rome’s train yards and some industrial areas in an attempt to convince dictator Benito Mussolini to surrender. He and his government had believed the Allies would never bomb Rome due to its obvious cultural significance.
Mussolini didn’t surrender, but Hitler installed Gen. Erwin Rommel to take command of Italy, having completely lost faith in Mussolini, who was well aware by that point that Italy would no longer be able to resist the allies. The Allies would invade Italy from Sicily toward the city of Salerno two months later. Probably should have gone around most of Italy, tbh. Italy and Japan are both long, mountain chains with scant flat land around the coasts. No one ever invaded Japan either apart from the Mongols, and they didn’t get far.
The Eternal City has seen some things.