Tigers 4, Yankees 0: Keider Montero tames Yanks, Spencer Torkelson returns with a bang

Spencer Torkelson’s return to the Tigers went very well, and Keider Montero spun a gem as they handed the Yankees a 4-0 loss on Saturday afternoon.

Keider Montero got off to a good start, throwing to his familiar catcher from their time in Triple-A, Dillon Dingler. Leadoff man Gleyber Torres fought him through a nine pitch battle to start the game, but Montero got him to ground out. Juan Soto lined out to Matt Vierling in center field and Montero froze Aaron Judge with a perfect fastball to end a 16 pitch top of the first inning.

Carlos Rodon got Matt Vierling and Andy Ibánez to start the bottom of the first, but Justyn-Henry Malloy smoked a drive that one-hopped the wall in left field. Colt Keith lined a single to center field, and it was 1-0 Tigers. Dillon Dingler followed with a 400 foot drive to center field for a routine out to end the inning.

Montero walked Austin Wells to open the second inning, but a nice play from Javy Báez on a Giancarlo Stanton ground ball erased Wells, leaving Stanton at first with one out. Alex Verdugo chopped a slider to Torkelson with Montero covering first. Anthony Volpe hit a slow grounder down the line and beat out the throw from Jace Jung to put runners at first and third with two outs, but Montero got Ben Rice to fly out to turn away the threat.

Spencer Torkelson led off the second for the Tigers in his return. He missed a home run by about 10 feet down the left field line, but then smoked a double up the right center field gap. That was a sight for sore eyes as he took 96 mph the other way. That’s what he needs to do to cover the outer half and handle velocity more effectively than we’ve seen in most of his time in the majors.

Jace Jung, in there against the lefty Rodon while Parker Meadows and Kerry Carpenter were on the bench, absolutely smoked a hot shot the opposite way but Oswaldo Cabrera picked it cleanly and got Jung with Torkelson unable to advance. Javy Báez battled through a long 13 pitch AB that pushed Rodon’s pitch count up over 40 pitches but struck out on a high fastball away. Zach McKinstry then took advantage of Rodon’s need to get strike one and smoked a fastball into right center for an RBI single. 2-0 Tigers.

Matt Vierling wouldn’t chase and drew a walk, and Rodon’s count climbed over 50 against Andy Ibáñez, who smoked a double to left center field to drive in both runs as Vierling went first to home. 4-0 Tigers. Good stuff.

The third opened with Cabrera drilling a hard ground ball that ate Ibáñez up at second base, skipping off his glove into right field for a single. Gleyber Torres pulled a grounder to Báez, but he dropped it and could only get the out at second base. Clean it up guys. Juan Soto and Aaron Judge are up next.

Montero painted a beautiful 97 mph fastball down and away that should’ve been a called strike three on Soto but got robbed on the call. No matter, as a beautiful split change got the whiff for strike three anyway. Montero then got ahead of Judge with two more good fastballs. Judge had a good take on a slider just off the plate away and then fouled off a heater down. Montero missed up with a 97 mph fastball but a slider got Judge to ground out to Báez to strand Cabrera through the heart of the order. Really nice job by Montero there.

Colt Keith led off the bottom half with a single the opposite way. Dillon Dingler worked another long AB as Rodon continued to have nothing for a disciplined Tigers’ offense early on. The 11 pitch battle ended in a fly out to right field, but Rodon was at 69 pitches. Torkelson got ahead 3-0 but eventually struck out on a slider down and in. Jung then collected his first major league hit by pulling a hard grounder through right side to move Keith to third. Báez again produced a long AB that left Rodon at 85 pitches through three innings, but lifted a routine fly ball to left to send this to the fourth inning.

Montero was throwing hard in this one, sitting 95-96 and hitting 97 pretty often. More importantly his command was really sharp. He blew away Austin Wells and carved up Stanton with a good curve. Jung made a nice play on a grounder to third to end a quick inning. Montero was really shoving through four innings.

By the fifth inning, rain was starting to spread around the Detroit area and so getting through the inning in short order had a little extra emphasis. Montero got a Volpe ground out, then dropped a knuckle curve in for strike three on Ben Rice for his fifth punch out. His pitch count was running into the 80’s due to adversity from his infield and the home plate ump, but Montero popped up Cabrera to Jung to end the fifth having retired nine straight Yankees. I am loving this.

Jake Cousins went through the Tigers in order in the bottom of the fifth. With two out, Dillon Dingler was initially ruled safe on a ground ball to third, but replay showed that Ben Rice got him just in time with a swipe tag as Cabrera’s throw pulled him off the base.

Montero came back out but walked Torres with his 87th pitch. Not wanting to see him go through Soto and Judge again with a man on base, that was the end of his outing. It was a good one. 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 5 K.

Tyler Holton took over for him. He started off well, striking out Soto on a fastball away that was tipped into Dingler’s glove. A 10 pitch battle with Aaron Judge ended in a pop-out to shallow center field. Austin Wells bounced out to Báez, and that was the usual really good work from Holton.

Torkelson got a sinker away in a 2-0 count to open the bottom of the sixth and smoked it into the right field gap for a triple. With Jung batting, a sinker clanged off of Wells glove and Torkelson broke for home. He would’ve made it, but he simply missed home plate with his outstretched right hand while his left hand got stuck under him and was just barely out. The Tigers used their challenge on the play, but he was clearly out. Jung grounded out, Báez struck out, and it was on to the seventh.

Holton punched out Stanton to start the inning, continuing to look outstanding and mixing in his whole repertoire of pitches with outstanding command. He got Verdugo and Volpe on routine ground outs, and has now allowed just one earned run since June 26th, a stretch of 29 innings.

With Mark Leiter Jr. taking over on the mound, Zack McKinstry led off the bottom of the seventh with a double, but broke for third on a bouncer back to Leiter and got caught between the bags and tagged out. Good swing. Bad baserunning. Ibáñez flew out and Malloy got victimized by another bad strike call that put him down in the count. He chased a curveball down and struck out to squander another opportunity to separate from the Yankees. 4-0 Tigers. Six outs to get.

AJ Hinch wasn’t screwing around here, and just stuck with Holton again beyond 30 pitches. Parker Meadows took over in center, hitting in the three hole for Malloy, with Vierling moving to left field. Holton helped his own cause with a great play on a little slow chopper from DJ LeMahieu toward third base. Jung would’ve had no chance on it and Holton pounced, turned, and fired a strike to Torkelson. Oswaldo Cabrera pulled a single to left, but Holton popped up Torres. After going through the order once, Hinch stuck with him to tackle Juan Soto again. Holton was spotting pitches on every edge of the zone as Soto fouled off several pitches and flew out to Meadows to end the inning.

Tim Hill, a lefty with a snappy sidearm delivery took over for the Yankees and he was as funky as we’ve seen in a minute. Keith grounded out, and Dingler struck out, leaving it to Spencer Torkelson. Tork laid off some tricky pitches and drew a walk. A double, a triple, both to right center, and then a walk. That’s as good a return as you could ask for. Jace Jung put together another good AB against a tough lefty and sprayed a single through the left side of the infield. Unfortunately, Báez flew out to right and it was Jason Foley time with Aaron Judge leading off the ninth.

Judge did his thing, drilling a double to center field. Foley carved up Wells with a good slider. Stanton slapped a bliner to Báez at shortstop, and the Yankees were down to Alex Verdugo. Foley got a little wild and walked him, and then with Volpe at the plate, a high sinker clanged off Dingler’s glove, advancing the runners to second and third. He still hadn’t allowed the tying run to come to the plate, but it was time to shut this down. Volpe flew out to the warning track in a bit of a scary moment, but Vierling squeezed it on the warning track to complete the shut out.

Really good win. Montero and Holton were nails, and Spencer Torkelson looked very good for one game. With Riley Greene near a return to Detroit, we might actually get to see what this offense is supposed to look like for six weeks.

BOX SCORE

Weather permitting, LHP Tarik Skubal will duel RHP Marcus Stroman on Sunday afternoon.