After a series victory at home against the Twins, the Tigers headed around the corner of Lake Erie to take on another division rival in Cleveland for a three-game weekend series. The Detroiters could only manage a pair of solo home runs in a losing effort, dropping the opener 3-2 on Friday night.
Jack Flaherty made his fifteenth start for the Tigers, and much has been said about his inconsistency. The good news coming into tonight was that, in his previous three starts, he hadn’t been that bad — pitched into the sixth, gave up a maximum of three runs, struck out at least six each time. With some starting pitchers due to come back from the Injured List soon, you have to wonder if Flaherty stays in the rotation with some of the young kids doing well.
Like Flaherty, Cleveland’s starting pitcher had a 1-7 record coming into tonight’s game, being one Tanner Bibee. But Bibee’s peripheral numbers look a lot better than Flaherty’s: ERA (4.09 vs. 5.31), WHIP (1.234 vs. 1.580), BB/9 (4.8 vs. 2.8). He’s in his fourth year with the Guardians, and he’s been a good, reliable part of their rotation since coming up in 2023 — not to mention a sensational start against Detroit in May. But these are the June Tigers, though, right?
The Tigers had an early squander: with one out in the top of the first, Bibee walked a pair of batters… and then both Dillon Dingler and Kerry Carpenter struck out, stranding a pair. As it turns out, that would be about as close to a sustained threat they’d have all night.
Cleveland got on the board first in the bottom of the second: Rhys Hoskins led off with a double, and Flaherty got the next two batters to fly out harmlessly. Up to the plate stepped a sub-.160 hitter, Patrick Bailey — great defensive catcher, not a world-beater in the batter’s box by any means — and he dumped a liner into left field to score Hoskins. Brayan Rocchio followed with a triple to right to score Bailey and put Cleveland up 2-0. By the end of the second, Flaherty had thrown 49 pitches, suggesting he might not go too deep in this game for any reason. But hey, Newest Tiger™ James Outman made a nice sliding catch.
Naturally, leading off the third, Outman — not known for his bat the past couple of years — crushed a no-doubter to right-centre to narrow the score to 2-1.
Flaherty’s night was shortened by injury, coming out after three innings — he grimaced while fielding a grounder to end the third with “left leg discomfort.” Other Newest Tiger™, Jacob Waguespack, started the fourth. He pitched in Toronto in 2019-20, pitched a couple of years in Japan, then spent a couple of years mostly at Triple-A, before being added to the Tigers today out of Milwaukee’s Triple-A affiliate in Nashville. He gave up a single and a walk but ended up getting three outs without any damage.
Drew Sommers took over for Waguespack in the fifth to face a few fellow lefties, and he gave up a harmless single but nothing more. Meanwhile, Bibee was cruising pretty easily: through six innings he’d only thrown 79 pitches, and Outman’s home run was the only hit he’d surrendered.
Drew Number Two (i.e., Anderson) relieved Sommers in the sixth and it didn’t go as well: with one out Angel Martínez doubled, and Steven Kwan — who’s lousy this year against everyone except us — singled to score Martínez and push the lead back up to two runs. Bailey legged-out an infield single (of course) to put a pair on, but a strikeout and a flyout prevented further damage.
The reliever parade continued with Ty Madden for the seventh, and he gave up a one-out double but the runner was stranded and the game carried on with a two-run gap ‘twixt the squadrons.
Spencer Torkelson had something to say about that, though, leading off the eighth:
That was the end of Bibee’s day; giving up two solo home runs as your only hits in seven-plus innings is a weird final line.
Cade Smith was brought in to nail down the save for Cleveland in the ninth; with two out Dingler made a bid for a game-tying home run but unfortunately the fly ball fell short of the fence, and that was the game.
Final score: Guardians 3, Tigers 2
Notes and Observances
- Tarik Skubal’s starting on Saturday.
- Casey Mize is starting on Sunday.
- Who goes to the bullpen? Toledo? Trading block? Released?
- Apparently it’s okay to have two Drews in the bullpen, but not two Zachs/Zacks on the field. Got it.
- Marv Albert, Chick Corea and Roy Harper were all born on this day in 1941. Neat!
