The News’ Tony Paul gives his quick takes on the Tigers’ 6-4 loss to the Twins on Wednesday:
One thing I loved
The Tigers remain one of the worst defensive teams in Major League Baseball, by practically ever metric, advanced and otherwise. But Wednesday, they flashed some impressive leather in what might’ve just been their best defensive game of the season.
The third inning was especially nifty. The Twins put the first two runners on before Austin Martin hit a slow chopper past the mound, where second baseman Gleyber Torres made a charging backhand and flipped to first for the first out. Then, Byron Buxton hit a slow roller to third, where Kevin McGonigle charged and got the base runner, former Tiger Ryan Kreidler, at home. Then, after Framber Valdez walked Brooks Lee to load the bases, Orlando Arcia hit a high foul popup in front of the Twins dugout. Tigers first baseman Spencer Torkelson, who struggles on balls near the wall, leaned over the railing and made the snag to get Valdez out of the inning unscathed and keep the score 1-0 Twins. It had to be Detroit’s best defensive inning of the season.
And the Tigers weren’t done. At least, McGonigle wasn’t done. In the sixth inning, he made back-to-back web gems — one diving, one leaping, and both followed with guns to first base. He’s becoming a bit of a highlight reel on defense, at third or shortstop, leaving many fans wondering who was pushing the preseason narrative that he couldn’t play defense. Cuz, yes, he can play defense.
Tork to the rescue pic.twitter.com/urTMl4zoQo
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) June 11, 2026
One thing I didn’t
For some ridiculous reason, the powers-that-be decided to start this ballgame knowing that a strong, spring pop-up storm was closing in on Comerica Park. So, credit to Valdez, who faced the minimum in the first inning, then sat around for a 70-plus-minute delay before coming back out for the second inning. Many pitchers might’ve been done after the one inning, and Valdez went five innings. Good on him. Have to acknowledge that.
But it’s also time to acknowledge that Valdez has not been great, especially in the last month. You could make a case that he’s been mostly fine in 2026. The Tigers didn’t give him a three-year, $115-million contract to be fine.
Valdez is averaging a career-worst 7.07 strikeouts per nine innings, down from 8.8 in 2025. He had just two strikeouts Wednesday. His WHIP is 1.34 and his ERA is 4.40, his worst in both categories since he became a full-time starter in 2020. He’s allowed nine home runs, already more than half of his 2025 total (15). He also has hit eight batters, more than he hit all of 2025 (seven).
It was back-to-back hit-by-pitches that derailed his game Wednesday. He hit the first two batters of the fifth inning, then Byron Buxton (again) made him pay with a long, three-run homer to left center to break the 1-1 tie. It’s the fifth time Valdez has allowed four earned runs or more this season; four of those have been in his last seven starts. He’s been beaten around twice by the Twins this season, for 12 runs on 16 hits in 10 innings.
We have no words for how good Byron Buxton is 🤯 pic.twitter.com/2e4XiW71Kk
— Twins.TV (@twinstv) June 11, 2026
Three stars
(Season total in parentheses)
▶ Gleyber Torres (9)
▶ Kerry Carpenter (6)
▶ Byron Buxton
Player of the game
(Season total in parentheses)
▶ Kevin McGonigle (7) — Three more walks (42, to 38 strikeouts … as a rookie!) and three more web gems.
Kevin McGonigle makes consecutive stellar plays! 💎 pic.twitter.com/UXORNxDyqx
— MLB (@MLB) June 11, 2026
Tigers’ ABS tracker
- Hitter challenges: 37-for-74
- Catcher/pitcher challenges: 41-for-58
Next Tigers game
▶ Game 69: Twins at Tigers, 1:10 Thursday, Detroit SportsNet, 97.1
tpaul@detroitnews.com
@tonypaul1984
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Detroit Tigers recap, Game 68: One thing I loved, one thing I didn’t
