Brant Hurter gave the Detroit Tigers another strong outing and Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene each went yard on Sunday afternoon as they downed the Red Sox 4-1 to take the series and move to 70-68 on the year.
The rubber match of this three game set from Comerica Park saw the Tigers again go with an opener before turning to a regular starting pitcher for most of the game. The Red Sox had right-handed slinger Cooper Criswell on the mound, while the Tigers started with Beau Brieske.
There were two semi-new faces in the Tigers clubhouse on Sunday as the active roster expanded to 28 players for September/October. Justyn-Henry Malloy returned to the fold after a few weeks back down with the Triple-A Mud Hens. RHP Ricky Vanasco, a reliever acquired for cash from the Dodgers at the deadline, and who has been fairly impressive at Triple-A in August, was the other addition. Reese Olson was throwing a bullpen to Wenceel Perez on Friday, so eventually those two may eventually take those spots if they can get out to a rehab assignment in the next week or so.
Brieske got off to a good start, striking out Jarren Duran and collecting three outs in the first on just eight pitches. Criswell also had no trouble, freezing Riley Greene for strike three on a nasty sweeper down and away that wasn’t actually a strike, and producing a brisk bottom of the first.
Brieske got into trouble in the second, issuing back-to-back walks with one out. That prompted A.J. Hinch to go to lefty Brant Hurter, who got a double play ball from Wilyer Abreu to snuff the threat immediately.
Things didn’t go too well at the plate in the second, as Kerry Carpenter and Spencer Torkelson got carved up in a quick 1-2-3 inning. However, Hurter returned serve with a pair of strikeouts in the top of the third, looking quite sharp in the process.
Criswell’s sinker continued to frustrate Tigers’ hitters in the bottom of the third though, and they went in order a third straight time.
Hurter punched out Masataka Yoshida to open the fourth on a nasty sweeper. Rob Refsnyder popped out, but Rafael Devers punched a single into center field for the first hit of the game from either team. Unphased, the big lefty popped up Triston Casas to end the top half of the inning.
The Tigers still couldn’t do much against Criswell in the bottom half. Parker Meadows struck out, and Riley Greene and Matt Vierling couldn’t find the outfield grass with a pair of solid balls in play.
We’ve been fans of Brant Hurter through the farm system, and despite a lower powered fastball, his arm angle and deception, combined with a nasty sweeper and changeup, he’s rapidly shaping up into a real weapon under the tutelage of Chris Fetter, Juan Nieves, and Dr. Lund. He froze Conner Wong top open the fifth, and then got Abreu chasing a good sweeper down and away for his fourth strikeout. Romy Gonzalez drove a single on a line out to Meadows in centerfield, and then Eric Sogard moved Gonzalez to third with a single into right center field. And so it was Hurter versus Jarren Duran in the game’s first big at-bat.
Hurter poured in a 93 mph sinker down the middle for strike one and then missed down and away with the sweeper against the dangerous left-handed hitter. A pulled sinker missed wide, and the count was 2-1. Duran fouled off a sweeper away, and so far everything in the at-bat was down and away from him. They tried to go up and in with a sinker, but Duran got his hands inside it and slapped a single through the left side of the infield. 1-0 Red Sox.
Chris Fetter strode slowly out to the mound at this point to help Hurter limit the damage. The plan was a good one, as Yoshida pulled a routine ground ball to McKinstry at second base to end the inning.
Criswell departed the game in favor of veteran veteran lefty, Rich Hill. Beyond 40 years of age you’re a veteran veteran. Kerry Carpenter greeted him with a good at-bat that produced a leadoff walk, and the Tigers finally had their first base runner.
Jace Jung saw some big, slow sweeping breaking balls from Hill as the lefty dropped down into his lower sidearm slot. Hill then fired an 87 mph fastball right past him in a 2-2 count and Jung couldn’t catch up to it.
No problem, as Spencer Torkelson got a 1-0 curveball thigh high and away in the zone, and crushed a two-run shot to left field. 2-1 Tigers. OK then. The Torkelssaince continues, perhaps.
Hill hit McKinstry with a slow looping curveball, but he bounced back to strike out Trey Sweeney. They didn’t want Hill facing Dillon Dingler, and so that was all for Hill as Zack Kelly took over. He carved up Dingler with a pair of breaking balls to send us to the sixth.
Hurter froze Refsnyder with a nasty sweeper for strike three to open the inning, getting a favorable call in the process. The dangerous Devers flew out to Matt Vierling in left, leaving it up to Triston Casas. Hurter got ahead 0-2 and looked to have landed a beaut of a sweeper on the outer edge, but this time he didn’t get the call. Casas lined the next pitch to right for a single, and Fetter again slowly made his way out to the mound for a chat and a moment of Fetter zen.
Conner Wong worked ahead in the count, but Hurter got it to 3-2 and a sinker got a fly out to Carpenter to avoid any trouble.
Parker Meadows greeted Kelly with a sharp single to start the bottom of the sixth. Riley Greene then got a cutter down the middle first pitch and ripped an absolute screamer just over the wall in the right field corner for a two-run shot at 114 mph, the hardest hit homer of his major league career. He also became the ninth Tigers player ever to hit 20 or more home runs at age 23 or younger. 4-1 Tigers.
Vierling flew out to center field for the first out of the Tigers’ sixth and Alex Cora turned to Chase Shugart to take over from Kelly. The right-hander racked up a quick pair of ground ball outs from Carpenter and Jung, and we were on to the seventh.
Brant Hurter was just topping 70 pitches as he took the mound for his fifth full inning. Danny Jansen pinch hit for Abreu and flew out, but Romy Gonzalez beat out a chopper to Sweeney at shortstop. With right-handers coming up, Hinch turned to Will Vest as Hurter left to a nice ovation with 5 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 5 K to his ledger. Another strong outing for the big southpaw. Too bad, “The Big Hurt” has already been claimed as a nickname.
With Vest in, Alex Cora pinch hit Emmanuel Valdez in for Nick Sogard. The left-handed hitter smacked a hard one hopper right off Vest’s thigh, and fortunately it kicked right to Jung, who threw out Valdez for the second out. That put Gonzalez into scoring position with Duran at the plate. Vest got ahead 0-2, and Duran fouled off a slider before getting jammed by a 96 mph fastball in and grounding out to McKinstry to end the top of the seventh.
With all the pinch-hitting, Conner Wong moved from catcher to left field while Danny Jansen took over behind the plate. Valdez took over at second base, with Gonzalez moving to shortstop.
Shugart struck out Torkelson to start the bottom of the seventh, and McKinstry popped out down the left field line with Gonzalez making a nice play cutting between the third baseman and left fielder to secure the ball. Trey Sweeney made a nice pass at cutter up but flew out to Duran in center to send this to the eighth inning.
Ryan Kreidler took over defensively from Jung at third, with Vest still on the mound. Masataka Yoshida appeared to strike out on an 0-2 slider, but it was ruled a foul tip. Evidence of said tip wasn’t apparent via replay but fortunately it didn’t matter as Yoshida chopped a little comebacker to Vest for the first out. Refsnyder flew out to right field, and after falling behind 3-0 to Rafael Devers, Vest absolutely blew him away with three straight fastballs up in the zone. That’s good stuff right there.
Dillon Dingler struck out against Shugart to open the inning, and Cora went back to his bullpen for the left-hander Brennan Bernardino with the top of the Tigers order following Dingler. Parker Meadows popped out, and Riley Greene struck out, and so it was Jason Foley time looking to close out a series victory.
Foley punched out Casas to start things off, then got Conner Wong to ground out to McKinstry at second. Danny Jansen lined out to Parker Meadows in center, and that wrapped up another Tigers’ victory.
The Tigers are now tied with the Red Sox, and 4.5 games behind the Minnesota Twins for the final wild card with the Twins losing as of this writing.
The Tigers now face a tough test, flying out Sunday night to start a three-game set in San Diego against the Padres on Monday evening.