Tigers keep pace with Twins, top Royals in 10 innings
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Before the game Tuesday, Matt Vierling was talking about how the Tigers almost feel like they're playing with house money this month.
"In all honesty, us being in this position right now, no one thought we would be here," he said. "We're just really grateful and happy and just having fun and our young guys are starting to believe. This has all just kind of organically come about and we've rolled with it.
"Just playing and having fun and we're shocking people. It's kind of fun."
This one had some tension to it. The game was deadlocked, 1-1, from the third inning through the ninth. And the Tigers knew that the Twins had already won their game in Cleveland.
After lefty reliever Tyler Holton dispatched six straight hitters through the eighth and ninth innings, Parker Meadows, who saved two runs with a sensational catcher earlier in the game, blooped an opposite-field single to left in the top of the 10th inning, scoring free runner Trey Sweeney and breaking the tie.
Riley Greene followed with an RBI single and the Tigers kept the train rolling, taking a 3-1, 10-inning victory over the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium.
Right-hander Jason Foley, working his third straight game, earned his third straight save (25 on the season). He went through the teeth of the Royals' order - Bobby Witt, Jr., Salvador Perez and Michael Massey - to strand the free runner.
The win keeps the Tigers, who at 79-73 are six games over .500 for the first time this season, two and a half games behind the Twins for the final wild-card spot with 10 games left. Their 24-10 record since Aug. 3 is the best in baseball.
The Tigers never did solve Royals lefty starter Cole Ragans. He allowed a run in the first inning and then shut them down through seven innings, bamboozling hitters with a menacing change-up.
The Tigers whiffed on 10-of-18 swings at his change-up. They also took nine four-seamers for called strikes.
Ragans gave up four hits. After the first inning, he allowed only two runners get into scoring position, despite four walks. Two runners were thrown out at second - Andy Ibáñez trying to steal and Trey Sweeney trying to advance on a ball in the dirt.
Royals' relievers Kris Bubic and Lucas Erceg put up zeros in the eighth and ninth. Rookie Wenceel Perez led off the top of the ninth with a pinch-hit double off the fence in right, but he never moved off second base.
The Tigers got to Erceg in the 10th.
For Tigers starter Casey Mize, it was another mixed bag. He came out of the gate hot, throwing 97- and 98-mph four-seam and two-seam fastballs. Not only that, but his slider and splitter had more zip.
He was throwing those pitches nearly 4 mph firmer than he has all year. He'd talked about wanting to rip those two pitches more often, even if that changed the movement profile.
He was hitting 90 mph on each, sitting at 88 mph.
What didn't come along with it, though, was command. He ended up walking four and driving up his pitch count. For the second straight start, he didn't survive the fifth inning.
He walked Witt three times. He walked him with two outs in the third and Witt ended up scoring on single by Massey.
A tremendous catch by Meadows in center field saved Mize from further damage in the third. With two on, Hunter Renfroe hit a line drive over Meadows' head in center.
Meadows tracked it 75 feet, with a sprint speed of 27.6 feet per second, and snared the drive at the wall.
With one out in the fifth, Mize gave up a single to Tommy Pham and then walked Witt and Perez. He was at 89 pitches and manager AJ Hinch went to the bullpen.
Right-hander Shelby Miller got out of the jam with one pitch. He got Massey to bounce into a fast 4-6-3 double-play.
Beau Brieske, pitching for the fourth time in five days, impressively struck out Witt (looking), Perez (swinging) and Massey (looking) in the seventh, keeping the game tied 1-1.
The Tigers scored two batters into the game. Ragans hit leadoff hitter Ibanez and then Vierling rifled a cutter into the gap in left-center. It one-hopped the wall and Ibanez came all the way around to score.
That was it.
Rookie second baseman Colt Keith was pulled from the game in the eighth inning. There was no immediate word from the Tigers on whether there was an injury.
This story was originally published September 17, 2024, 10:15 PM.
