Oh boy, is everyone else sick of seeing the Guardians? I’m sure the Tigers are.
In a bullpen start for the Tigers, Beau Brieske started out, but if you joined midway through the first you could be forgiven for assuming Bryan Sammons was in for a traditional start. Tanner Bibee got the nod for the Guardians.
Things got off to a very bad start as Angel Martinez hit a one-out double, then Jose Ramirez doubled to put the Guardians on the board early. A Josh Naylor single scored Ramirez. Andres Gimenez got a two-out single, then Jhonkensy Noel singled to score Naylor giving the Guardians a 3-0 lead. That was it for Brieske, as the Tigers turned to Bryan Sammons, who came in to get the final out of the inning. Justyn-Henry Malloy was the Tigers’ only baserunner in the bottom of the inning, but no runs scored.
The second inning was 1-2-3 for both sides.
Jose Ramirez came out in the top of the third and hit a solo home run. Three outs quickly followed, but it still hurt. In the home half Ryan Kreidler singled and then stole second base but the Tigers weren’t able to bring him home.
The fourth and fifth were both scoreless, hitless inning for both sides.
Josh Naylor kicked off the sixth with a single, then Noel got a two-out single. Bo Naylor homered to bring in three runs and put the Guardians up 7-0. Onto the home half and the Tigers did make a valiant effort, with a one-out single from Matt Vierling, followed by a Colt Keith single. Unfortunately a double play ended the inning with no runs scored.
Jose Ramirez was at it again in the seventh with a two-out solo homer. Finally, though, the Tigers made some headway in the bottom of the inning. Mark Canha singled, then Bligh Madris singled. Newbie Dillon Dingler (with the A+ walk-up song choice of Stevie Nicks’ “Edge of Seventeen”) got his first hit, first extra base hit, and first RBI all in one swing of the bat.
Pedro Avila came out of the Guardians pen to replace Bibee and gave up a walk to Zach McKinstry. Gio Urshela then hit a sac fly to score Madris. The Tigers settled for two, but Dingler gets to go home with some souvenirs.
David Fry drew a leadoff walk in the top of the eighth, but a double play and a popup ended the inning. In the bottom half the Tigers threatened but couldn’t get the follow through. Malloy got a one-out walk, then Scott Barlow came in out of the Guardians’ pen to relieve Avila. Speaking of Avilas in relief, it sounds like we can expect to see Alex Avila and Andy Dirks on our TVs in the broadcast booth very soon. With two outs Madris walked, and then Dingler walked as well to load the bases. McKinstry then struck out to leave them all stranded.
Sammons was finally done for the day, going 7.1 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 3 HR on 96 pitches. Will Vest came out in relief and got the Guardians out in order. The Tigers headed into the ninth hoping to recover some runs against Hunter Gaddis. Gio Urshela walked, then Wenceel Perez hit a two-run homer.
The Tigers weren’t able to come up with four more, but they did fight back in a good effort, and a nice first game from Sammons and Dingler.
Final: Guardians 8, Tigers 4