On a mild summer afternoon in Detroit, the Tigers and Angels wrapped up their three game set. Detroit took the first two games, extending their longest winning streak in a few years to six straight. The Angels, inversely, had lost seven straight going into this one and were desperate to break stem the bleeding. They would ultimately be successful in that goal.
Taking the mound for the Tigers was 24 year old right-handed rookie Keider Montero. His numbers aren’t the greatest on the season (5.15 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 21BB in 64.2 innings), but he’s shown serious flashes of great stuff with great inconsistency. He’s been better the last few weeks as the Fetterization takes root, allowing just 7 runs in his last 4 combined starts, also striking out 19.
The Angels tossed out a young rookie of their own, 23 year old Jack Kochanowicz, a righty former third round pick. In five starts this season, he’s had…a rough go of it, with a 6.08 ERA, 1.54 WHIP, and a whopping 8 strikeouts (to 7 walks!) in 26.2 IP. He typically gives up a ton of hits, strikes nobody out, but has managed to keep the runs down his last three starts after getting bombed in his first two outings. So of course, while the Tigers had a fair amount of traffic on the bases, Kochanowicz was able to escape time and again.
No rain delay this time, so the game opened as planned. Montero took the rubber and allowed a single to Taylor Ward, who promptly stole second. After a popup out, Nolan Schanuel hit a comebacker to the mound that Montero fielded and fired to third, getting Ward. Keider followed that nifty play with a swinging strikeout of Anthony Rendon, and it was the Tigers’ turn.
The Tigers could do nothing against Kochanowicz, quietly going 1-2-3.
In the second, Dillon Dingler made a fantastic catch of a foul pop-up, Mickey Moniak singled, but the Tigers defense turned a smooth double play to end the risk and keep the speedy Moniak from causing chaos on the basepaths.
As some rain started, the Tigers again went down without a fight. Early on, Kochanowicz was fooling the hitters and inducing weak contact.
Keider came a bit unglued in the third. After a deep fly ball out, he walked the next two batters. He and the Tigers have put a lot of work into making some adjustments in his delivery, and he’s still fighting to ingrain them, so we’re still getting some wild swings in accuracy from him. A soft ground ball wasn’t hard enough to turn a double play with, but Schanuel harmlessly flied out to strand a pair.
Zach McKinstry got things started in the third, lacing a double to right center field. It gave the utility man a nine game hit streak, which is pretty impressive. Kochanowicz completely yanked a curveball and hit Trey Sweeney on the foot, putting two on. Unfortunately, Dingler hit a sharp chopper to short for a tailor-made double play, followed by Parker Meadows striking out on a nasty pitch. Squander.
Montero continued his wildness, walking Rendon to start the 4th. He got Matt Thaiss with some high heat but gave up a double to Moniak, scoring Rendon. Moniak got greedy though, trying to stretch it to a triple. He actually got there before the relay throw but he popped off the bag and was tagged out. Jo Adell struck out, but it was 1-0 Angels.
The cats tried to answer back in the bottom of the frame when Jace Jung doubled with two out. Unfortunately, a semi-slumping Colt Keith grounded out, continuing the offensive futility.
A Niko Kavadas single led off the 5th, but Montero rebounded to get two outs. Unfortunately, you need three to get off the mound. Keider repeatedly hung pitches to Neto, who caught up with the last one and deposited it over the fence for a 3-0 Angels lead. He clearly wasn’t at his best today and the Angels finally made him pay for it. Interestingly, that HR made Neto the first infielder in Angels history to have a 20/20 season.
With one out, McKinstry shot a sharp single up the middle. He’s got a .931 OPS this month, per Bally. He was left standing at second. The offense just could not get anything consistent going against Kochanowicz.
Joey Wentz relieved Montero and immediately mowed down the Angels with ease. Not expected, but certainly welcome.
Meadows and Kerry Carpenter singled to put two on with nobody out. Can you guess what happened? That’s right class, squander happened! Props to the Angels starter but the Tigers just could not get anything strung together in the first six innings.
Wentz kept dealing, retiring the first two batters with ease. From there though, it got a bit painful. Literally. A comebacker hit Joey on the hand; the runner was safe and Joey stayed in. The next batter, Taylord Ward, smoked one right into Wentz’s leg, which thoughtfully ricocheted the ball to a defender for the final out. He walked off with some effort. To recap the sequence: the first ball hit his hand, but the second one kneecapped him. Considering Casey Mize needs a spot for his activation tomorrow, perhaps Joey’s given a bit of relaxation time on the IL to make that happen.
Roansy Contreras came on as the Tigers finally got to the bullpen. He sandwiched outs with a Torkelson HBP and a Sweeney single, but escaped the jam when Dingler grounded out. In three at-bats, Dillon left 5 stranded.
Will Vest, recalled from the paternity list and having not named his daughter Sweater as he threatened, worked around a single for three outs in the 8th.
José Quijada relieved Roansy Contreras with the Tigers six outs away from their first loss in a week. Meadows struck out. Andy Ibáñez, pinch-hitting for Carpenter, drew a walk. Greene struck out on a high fastball at nearly head level. Matt Vierling pinch-hit for Jung and laced a single to the outfield.
Suddenly it was all up to Colt Keith, 0-9 this series, with two men on, two out. Quijada was wild and missed badly on a number of pitches that Keith laid off on, taking a walk. Bases loaded, Torkelson up. Pivotal at-bat, with not only the game, but a potential seven game winning streak on the line. The Angels brought in reliever Ben Joyce to face him, who throws 103 mph fastballs. After a bit of a battle, Tork struck out swinging to end the threat. 17 LOBsters overall at this point.
With the crowd thoroughly deflated, Sean Guenther came in to pitch the 9th. He’s been solid since coming up from Toledo, and today was no exception. Got through the inning with little difficulty, and we were off to the bottom of the 9th.
Joyce stayed on to close out the game for the Angels. McKinstry did what he’s done the whole series, stroking a single up the middle. Sweeney was totally outmatched, striking out on 103 mph fastballs. Dingler fouled out. It was all up to Meadows, but he grounded out to end the game.
The Tigers were shut out even though they out-hit the Angels, 8-7. It felt like a game from the last few years rather than the new and exciting team we’ve seen since the trade deadline; mishaps, odd luck, nobody coming up with a clutch hit. The Tigers will next take on the Boston Red Sox in a key series if they want to start entertaining wild card dreams.
- Today in history, Netflix was founded in California in 1997 with the intention to mail rental DVDs as a subscription service. It’s still a subscription service that no longer mails DVDs but instead creates incredible original TV shows before canceling them on cliffhangers.
- Happy birthday to legendary Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman, a three-time Oscar winner, which ties her for 2nd all-time.
- It’s also the birthday of many great and famous film folks, but I have to give a shout-out to Richard Attenborough. His delivery and exuberance in Jurassic Park are some core childhood memories of mine.