The Tigers took on the Orioles in game two of a three-game set at Comerica Park. The Tigers won game one off of an historic group pitching performance; they carried a perfect game into the 8th, then kept a no-hitter through 8 2⁄3 to win 1-0. Things did not go so well on this night, as the Orioles smothered the Tigers’ offense and evened the three-game set with a 4-2 victory.
Today was the annual Fiesta Tigres game in Detroit, and former catcher Alex Avila was the 2024 honoree. He was given some fantastic gifts by the organization in a nice pre-game ceremony. Dude was always an incredible OBP machine that called some fantastic games, and he earned the honor. He’s also doing a nice job pairing with Dan Dickerson on the broadcast.
For the game, the Orioles started elite pitcher Corbin Burnes, one of the best pitchers in baseball the last few years. He came in struggling a bit since the start of August, having a few bad games allowing 8, 5, and 6 runs in a stretch of three games before bouncing back a bit his last two. The Tigers countered with Opener Beau Brieske, making Detroit history starting his second straight game; the last guy to do that was totally real player George Uhle on August 4-5, 1929.
Beau got things going a bit roughly, walking the first two Baltimore batters. However, a sterling double play cut down two runners, leaving Gunner Henderson on 3rd. Brieske battled but struck out a slumping Adley Rutschman looking, escaping the jam.
After the first, Brieske was relived by recent addition Ty Madden in the long-relief role. He got into trouble in the third when, with two outs, umpire Lance Barksdale missed a fantastic fastball strike, keeping the dangerous Gunnar Henderson alive. He promptly doubled, then came around to score on a Cedric Mullins single. 1-0 Orioles, thanks to the umpire gift. I normally wouldn’t go on, but it was…very much inside the zone and it changed the inning and the whole tenor of the game at that point. Madden escaped without further damage.
Burnes started off hot, allowing just a single and a walk in the first four innings. He wasn’t striking out a ton of guys, but he was inducing a lot of soft contact.
Madden settled in and kept the Orioles off-balance, eventually leaving the game in the 5th after 3.2 solid innings of 1-run ball. Sean Guenther relieved him and retired the dangerous Henderson to end the inning.
Burnes got even better, upping his strikeouts to 6 and inducing more weak contact through 6 innings. It was not looking like the Tigers’ night, but the pitching was keeping them in it.
Top of the seventh, Kenta Maeda relieved Guenther. It went about how you might expect against a talented offense that had been held in check so far: they pounced. A HBP, a double, a sac fly by old friend James McCann…and then Henderson came up. A pest in both games, he effortlessly deposited a Maeda pitch over the fence in right field, making it a 4-0 Baltimore lead.
The Tigers got a Colt Keith single but nothing else. The offense has slumped considerably over the past week and it’s been kind of lost due to the incredible pitching performances. They really need the bigger bats to get hot starting immediately.
Maeda got through the 8th with the defense helping him out, turning their 4th double play of the evening. Early in the broadcast, Bally pointed out that Baltimore has hit into the fewest in the league. So…baseball is weird.
Burnes was relieved by Cionel Pérez in the bottom of the 8th, the Tigers’ magic inning of late. Torkelson hit a sharp single off of Henderson’s glove and the park came alive. However, pinch-hitter Andy Ibáñez grounded into a double play. Matt Vierling pinch-hit for Sweeney and singled, keeping things going for Jake Rogers. Sadly, that was all for the inning, as Jake grounded out.
After Shelby Miller did his job in the top of the frame, the Tigers had three last chances to do some damage. They faced newly minted Baltimore closer Seranthony Domínguez. Meadows got a 1-0 pitch he liked and nuked one to right center, ending the shutout and bringing the energy back to Comerica.
Keith singled and then Carpenter hit a deep fly to center field…that was just a bit too short. Riley Greene similarly hit a deep fly ball that wasn’t deep enough, bringing the Tigers to their last out. Wenceel Pérez struck out…but the pitch was wild, allowing him to reach base. Torkelson came up with two on, two out, representing the tying run. He slapped a base hit to right, scoring Keith. McKinstry, the super-utility man, pinch hit with a chance to be the hero. Unfortunately, he grounded it right to 1B, ending the game.
As of this writing, the Twins are down big to the Reds, so the Tigers likely won’t lose ground. Ultimately it was a masterful pitching performance by Burnes coupled with the Tigers’ bats going quiet and Maeda unable to keep the game close that added up to a Detroit loss.
- Per Jason Beck https://x.com/beckjason/status/1835101266764018008, Beau Brieske set an MLB record by not giving up a hit in four consecutive starts. Impressive….except that it’s a total of 4.2 innings. Fun record to own, nonetheless.
- Happy 77th birthday to Sam Neill, the guy most famous for terrorizing a child with a raptor claw in that one dinosaur movie.