The Tigers built a little lead early and got really good work from Beau Brieske and solid work from Kenta Maeda to piece together a bullpen game. Unfortunately, the depleted Tigers offense couldn’t add on any runs, and big mistakes from Colt Keith and Jason Foley in the ninth coughed up the lead and the game.
While it would be another bullpen game for the Tigers, the lineup would have a somewhat difficult test in lefty Robbie Ray. The left-hander isn’t quite in peak form anymore, but against a weak Tigers’ lineup, the odds of a big day at the plate were slim.
Colt Keith drilled a solid single with two outs in the top of the first, then stole second base on Ray and veteran catcher Curt Casali. The throw skipped into center field, and Keith was on third standing up. Unfortunately, Jake Rogers, hitting clean up in a sign of where things are right now, struck out to strand Keith.
Beau Brieske struck out a pair in a solid first inning, despite issuing a two-out walk to Heliot Ramos.
The Tigers got right back after Ray in the second inning. Gio Urshela smoked a double into the left field corner. Ray then walked Wenceel Pérez on a wild pitch that got Urshela to third. Ryan Vilade lifted a sacrifice fly to left field for a 1-0 lead, and Pérez reached second base on the play. However, Javy Báez chased a high fastball for strike three, and Zach McKinstry bounced out to strand Pérez.
Brieske spun a crisp second inning, getting a ground out and a fly out before freezing old friend Mark Canha with a fourseamer for strike three. Can’t ask for much more out of an opener.
Andy Ibáñez led off the third with a walk, but was then caught stealing second with Justyn-Henry Malloy in a 3-0 count. Not a great time to go, but it looked like Ibáñez just flinched a bit before breaking for second. Malloy then drew a walk as well, emphasizing the poor decision there. Colt Keith went oppo again but flew out to left field, and that left the inning in Jake Rogers’ hands. He flew out to center field to send it to the bottom of the third.
Brieske was in total control early on, and so A.J. Hinch stuck with him and was rewarded with his third and fourth strikeouts and a shallow pop fly out to Pérez in center field. The right-hander really had good fastball command in this one, and didn’t make any big mistakes with his slider or changeup.
The Tigers went in order in the top of the fourth and Kenta Maeda took over in the bottom half. Wenceel Pérez left the game, with Vilade taking over in center field, and Bligh Madris inserted in Pérez’s place and playing right field. Wenceel reached for his back slightly after the one swing in his second at-bat, and it was later reported that he had left abdominal soreness. Great. Meanwhile, Maeda retired the side in order.
Báez led off the fifth with a rocket to left for a leadoff double. McKinstry was rung up on a pitch a couple inches off the plate, which was irritating. However, Javy took matters into his own hands, stealing third and then scoring on a high throw from Casali that got away. 2-0 Tigers.
Ibáñez followed with a rocket of a one-hopper that ate up shortstop Tyler Fitzgerald and skipped into left field for a single, but Justyn-Henry Malloy bounced into an inning ending double play.
Maeda got a pair of pop-outs and spun another 1-2-3 inning in the bottom half. The Tigers were five innings into throwing a combined no-hitter by this point. Baseball is hard to predict.
Colt Keith led off the sixth by choking up and again going opposite field for a single. Rogers struck out again and Urshela flew out sharply to center field. Bligh Madris was then interfered with by Casali on a swing and was awarded first base. Casali was really having a brutal game. Ryan Vilade flew out to strand the runners.
Maeda punched out Brett Wisely on a nasty splitter to open the inning, then got a pair of soft ground balls off splitters to quickly spin another 1-2-3 inning, and make it six no-hit innings combined.
Right-hander Landen Roupp took over from Ray in the seventh. He got Báez and McKinstry on ground balls and punched out Andy Ibánez to send us to the stretch.
Maeda allowed a leadoff single to Fitzgerald that finally ended the combined no-no bid, if you believe in such things. Heliot Ramos followed with a bouncer off the end of the bat that spun through the right side for a single, and suddenly it was first and third with no outs. Conforto flew out to left, which scored Fitzgerald from third, but they were able to keep Ramos at first. 2-1 Tigers. Matt Chapman swung at the first pitch he saw and lifted a shallow fly ball to center field for the second out of the inning. That left it up to Mike Yastrzemski, and Maeda got a ground ball to Ibáñez at first to cut off any Giants’ hopes of a rally.
The Tigers couldn’t get anything going in the top of the eighth, and so Maeda took the mound again looking to get this game to Jason Foley for the ninth. Canha led off and lined a single to right field to lead off the inning. Wisely followed with a single as well, moving Canha to third. Patrick Bailey pinch-hit for Casali, and after a conference with Chris Fetter, Maeda got Bailey to fly out to center field, but it was deep enough to score the run and tie things at 2-2. Maeda carved up Lamont Wade Jr. with a really good splitter, and at that point Hinch called on Jason Foley to get Tyler Fitzgerald.
Foley has been throwing a much better slider of late, but he fell behind 2-1 by missing twice with it, then tailed a sinker inside to make it 3-1. A foul made it 3-2, and this felt like the ballgame. Foley popped him up into shallow left field, and Báez put that in his back pocket.
Bob Melvin turned to RHP Tyler Rogers in the ninth. Rogers is not quite a submariner, but his weird rising slider-sinker combo out of a low sidearm slot is not something you see as a hitter often. Urshela popped out, and then a fan jumped the fence in left field and ran around for a while before getting dragged off the field. And then Bligh Madris struck out looking on another ball just off the plate and Vilade flew out to right field to send it to the bottom of the ninth.
Things did not start off well. Colt Keith botched a routine grounder up the middle, allowing Ramos to reach first. Foley fell behind Michael Conforto 3-1, and then got a foul ball to make it a full count. The Tigers really needed a double play ball. Instead, Foley yanked a changeup that almost hit Conforto in the foot, and that put runners on first and second.
Foley then sailed a fastball way inside and drilled Matt Chapman in the helmet. Fortunately he was alright. The Tigers were not alright.
Shelby Miller took over and a Yastrzemski grounded one to Ibáñez at first. He fired home to cut down the lead runner, and the Tigers were a double play away from getting out of it. Instead, Mark Canha ripped a drive to McKinstry in left, and Conforto tagged and scored the game winning run.
That’s a really rough pair of losses back to back, and this team is just hanging on by a thread with all these injuries piling up. Still, the Tigers remain 2-2 on this west coast swing, with a chance to earn at least a .500 road trip tomorrow.