Welcome to the late-night toil of a classic West Coast road trip, as the Tigers go for three against the Mariner this week.
Tonight we saw Keider Montero up against Luis Castillo, and if you can say one thing for this game: they knew we all wanted to go to bed early, because this was one speedy 9 innings.
The Tigers went 1-2-3 for the top of the first. In the home half, Victor Robles got a leadoff single, but was then eliminated in a double play. A strikeout then ended the inning.
Onto the second and Parker Meadows reached on a fielding error from Dylan Moore. He ended up getting stranded on base. The Mariners, meanwhile, went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning. Rookie Keider Montero was dealing, with a little help from closing his setup position a bit more.
In the third, the Tigers’ only baserunner was Matt Vierling with a two-out single. In the home half, Dylan Moore got a one-out single, but was then caught stealing.
The scoreless streak for both teams ended in the fourth. Wenceel Perez singled to start things off, then advanced to third over the following two ground outs from Malloy and Madris. Parker Meadows then singled to bring Perez home.
In the bottom half, Randy Arozarena was the sole baserunner with a walk.
Moving speedily into the fifth, Zach McKinstry notched a leadoff single, then a Javier Baez single advanced McKinstry to third. With one out, Colt Keith singled to score McKinstry, and a Wenceel Perez single brought home Baez. Wenceel Perez got caught stealing and the Tigers had to settle for two.
Meanwhile, the Mariners got one back in the form of a solo home run from Luke Raley.
In the top of the sixth Dillon Dingler got a two-out double, but was the only baserunner to get on. Montero got into a bit of a tense jam in the bottom half, with a Josh Rojas single and Victor Robles getting hit by a pitch to put two on just in time for Randy Arozarena to get to the plate. Thankfully, after a breather and a visit from Chris Fetter, Montero got Arozarena to ground into a much-needed double play, and another groundout ended the inning. That was it for Montero for the game, going 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 1 HR on 85 pitches. Gotta say, every game he plays, I’m liking him more and more.
Austin Voth came in for Castillo in the top of the seventh, and gave up a leadoff walk to Javier Baez. Matt Vierling then singled, but tried to stretch it out into a double and got tagged out. Two more outs quickly followed. Will Vest came in out of the Tigers’ pen and almost immediately hit Justin Turner in the hand with a pitch, which led to an on-field delay. Three outs thankfully followed.
In the eighth, up against Trent Thornton, Parker Meadows nailed a no-doubt solo home run.
Jason Foley was next out of the pen and got three Mariners out in order.
Jonathan Hernandez came in for the top of the ninth, and got the Tigers out in order. Then it all came down to Beau Brieske to get the final three outs. Cal Raleigh then drew a walk, which begs the question, if someone scores him, would it be a “Raleigh walk”? GET IT?! My joke is a moot point because Raleigh was eliminated in a force out. Cade Marlowe, who reached first on the force out, advanced to second on defensive indifference. Jorge Polanco should have been the final out of the game on a long fly ball that somehow… just… dropped down next to Parker Meadows in the most “wtf?” lack of defense, allowing Marlowe to score. Tyler Holton replaced Brieske, and blessedly got the final out, meaning Meadows’ gaffe wasn’t a game-changer. Phew.
Final: Tigers 4, Mariners 2