The Motor City Kitties returned home after a week in the Windy City that culminated with a rousing four game sweep of the woeful Chicago White Sox and a return to .500 for the first time this late in a season in…let’s not talk about it. This week they’re playing host to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim who, like the White Sox, are division bottom-dwellers, entering play with a 54-77 record, a five game losing streak, and a -123 run differential.
The Angels put out the ancient (38) right-hander Johnny Cueto, who was a minor league free agent of the Rangers this season, opted out after not making the majors, and ended up with the Angels. He pitched in one previous game, a 3-0 loss to the Royals, with moderate results. (3 ER, 1K, 2BB).
Facing him was recent call-up Brant Hurter, who has started his major league career with 17.2 innings of solid baseball for the Tigers (3.57 ERA, 0.79 WHIP, and 17 K’s). He’s been used as a bulk reliever, but got a traditional spot as his first official MLB start.
The game was delayed for a few hours due to a heavy thunderstorm passing through Michigan, knocking down trees and messing with power in the lower peninsula. The grounds crew did an admirable job trying to keep the field in playable shape. Would love to see their drainage designs someday….
The Angels struck first. A leadoff double by Taylor Ward, a deep flyout that got him to third, and then an infield single made it 1-0 Angels. Things got a little hairy after a walk and a balk put runners on 2nd and 3rd, but Hurter struck out oft-injured Anthony Rendon for the final out. The Tigers followed that with a quick 1-2-3 against Cueto.
Hurter settled in and, outside of a solid running catch from Vierling, retired the Angels in the 2nd with ease. Cueto erased the Tigers with similar ease in the bottom half, and we had a quite unexpected pitching duel brewing.
The third was the same as the second, with neither team reaching base. Everyone was swinging early and pitch counts were low going into the 4th.
The Angels got a two-out walk from Rendon, but a fine play by Trey Sweeney retired the side.
Parker Meadows has been a spark plug since returning to the lineup, and tonight was no exception. He led off the bottom of the 4th with a deep fly ball to left center; Taylor Ward and Kevin Pillar converged and neither one actually caught the ball. Parker kept going and ended up on third. Riley Greene struck out, but Matt Vierling smacked a ball to right center for a double that Jo Adell straight up dropped after he picked it off the grass, getting Vierling to 3rd. Kerry Carpenter smoked a ball up the middle that looked like a likely ground-out….except the Angels defense continued to look bad when Zach Neto straight up whiffed on it, scoring Vierling (it’s going as a single but definitely was a whiff on the defense). Colt Keith popped out and Torkelson struck out, but it was 2-1 Tigers after 4 innings.
Editor’s Note: Wash your face, Neto!
Jo Adell led off the 5th with a clear double to left field, but Vierling’s strong but wild throw missed everybody and Adell was able to reach third; if that throw hits a cutoff man, Adell is possibly out. Hurter struck out Jack López but Ward hit a sac fly to tie the game. Neto hit a high blooper down the right field line, also known as Spencer Torkelson’s twilight zone…and he over ran it and then missed it completely; Vierling was in the area and likely catches that if Tork doesn’t call him off. It was a real bad look for the embattled 1B, but thankfully Hurter induced a ground ball to prevent further damage.
After two quick outs from Cueto, Jake Rogers got a pitch he liked and promptly deposited it past the centerfield wall for his 10th longball of the year. Absolute nuke.
Hurter’s night was done after 5 solid innings: 5 IP, 2ER, 4K’s. Brenan Hanifee relieved him and quickly demolished the next three hitters. Meanwhile, Jason Benetti was going on a pretty amusing joke rant about how folks in 1885 complained about high strikeout rates, complete with actual punditry on the subject from the era.
Cueto was still in for the 6th and that was a mistake that would bite the visitors. Riley Greene destroyed a baseball to almost the exact same spot Rogers did for his 19th big fly; both homers were smoked around 420 feet.
Not to be outdone after a Vierling walk, Kerry Carpenter launched another intercontinental shot and suddenly it was 6-2 Tigers and Cueto hit the showers. Brock Burke came in, threw ten pitches, all strikes (one foul prevented an immaculate inning), and struck out the side.
Hanifee continued his dominance with a quick 1-2-3 7th including a nifty snag of a comebacker for the third out.
Ryan Miller came on for the Angels in the 7th; he was brought up from AAA today and was making his major league debut. He had little trouble with the Tigers.
Hanifee stayed out for his third inning of work in relief and induced two grounders that Ryan Kreidler deftly handled before Shelby Miller was brought in. Hanifee was fantastic tonight, retiring all 8 batters he faced. He’s got a 1.72 ERA, a 0.96 WHIP, and sure looks Fetterized thus far. Miller got Nolan Schanuel to ground out to end the inning, and it was getting real late.
Ryan Zeferjahn (what a name), another recent call-up for the Angels, pitched the bottom of the 8th for the Halos to great effect.
Top of the 9th and the Angels were down to their last three outs. Kevin Pillar lined out, Logan O’Hoppe struck out swinging, Rendon hit a sharp grounder to 3B that Kreidler snagged but couldn’t get the out on, Rendon took 2nd on indifference, then Brandon Drury was hit by a pitch after a lengthy battle. Hinch had seen enough and went back to the bullpen, calling on Jason Foley to try to get that last out. He induced a chopper to third base that Kreidler grabbed, stepped on the bag, and that was that.
Final Score: Tigers 6, Angels 2. Tigers win their fifth straight and get above .500 on the season. They’re only 5.5 games back of the wild card and suddenly…you really wonder if they can sneak into the postseason. Let’s try to stay cool unless they shred the Angels and then the Red Sox over the next five games.
- Tigers 5-8 hitters went 0-12 with 6Ks, three of them on Torkelson.
- Casey Mize is set to return this Friday against the Boston Red Sox in a pivotal series for the Tigers small playoff hopes.
- Happy 71st birthday to one of the greatest European “That Guy” in movie history, the versatile Peter Stormare (John Wick 2, Constantine, Fargo, Armageddon)