New York – The obstacles keep coming from all angles for the Tigers.
If it isn’t a rash of injuries, it’s inconsistent performances from some of the healthy players. If it isn’t some hard luck liners that land in fielder’s gloves or opponent bloops that drop in, well, it’s an umpire blocking the lane to the plate and stopping what might’ve been the tying run.
Yep, that last one happened Tuesday night as the Tigers were beaten by the woebegone Mets, 10-2, in the first of three at Citi Field.
Trailing 3-2 in the fifth inning, Colt Keith singled with two outs and scampered to third on a single to right by Riley Greene. The throw from right fielder Carson Benge scooted by third baseman Brett Baty.
Keith got to his feet and broke for home. But third base umpire Rob Drake was in his path. Keith pushed his way through, knocking Drake to the ground, but the delay cost him the run.
“I had a great view,” Keith said. “I slid into third, saw the ball go past and I see it going towards the fence. The pitcher is not there. I immediately got up and take off and as soon as I turn my head, I’m running into somebody. I just pushed him out of the way and kept going trying to score.
“I definitely think I would’ve been safe if I didn’t run into him. Just part of it.”
Mets’ starting pitcher Freddie Peralta, backing up third base, gathered the ball off the fence and threw Keith out at the plate.
“There’s nothing we could do,” manager AJ Hinch said. “I’m not sure why (Drake) was there. But it was a weird play. The ball bounced back and the pitcher was there.”
Truth be told, that Peralta was still in the game was part of the Tigers’ troubles on this night. They worked him for two runs and 48 pitches in the first two innings. Catcher Dillon Dingler lined his seventh homer over the short wall in left and after a double by Gage Workman, Spencer Torkelson hit a sacrifice fly to left.
But they didn’t step on his neck. Peralta settled in and blanked the Tigers through the sixth.
“Both pitchers had to throw a lot of pitches in the early innings,” Hinch said. “They got more out of their pitches than we did. (Peralta) had his high fastball and we had trouble with that. He was getting himself out of trouble by getting above some barrels and beating us to the spot.”
It was the opposite for Tigers’ starter Jack Flaherty. He couldn’t come up with an antidote and was unable to get out of trouble. Coming off an impressive 10-strikeout outing against the Red Sox, Flaherty never found that same groove Tuesday. He lasted only 3.2 innings but threw 97 pitches to get there.
“Just too many long at-bats,” he said. “I’ve got to find a way to shorten those at-bats, get some quicker outs and get us back into the dugout.”
BOX SCORE: Mets 10, Tigers 2
He walked three (he’s walked 29 in 36 innings this season) and he was hit hard. The Mets put 15 balls in play with an average exit velocity of 94.3 mph.
“I know he had a hard time finishing at-bats,” Hinch said. “It looked like he was getting into counts and they kept working long at-bats and taking advantage of a few pitches. They definitely made him work.”
There were also some borderline pitches that didn’t go Flaherty’s way that went unchallenged. Dillon Dingler, who had missed on just two challenges from the catcher position, missed one in the first inning and may have been a little reticent about using another early in the game.
MJ Melendez walked to lead off the second and there were two pitches called balls that would’ve been overturned by challenge.
“We had Meledez punched out a couple of times,” Flaherty said. “But we didn’t challenge. You can say good take. They were called balls. We should’ve taken advantage of the system we have in place. It leads to long at-bats. You look up and it’s six, seven, eighth pitch at-bats and the pitch count keeps running up.”
Asked if being down to one challenge impacted the decision to let those pitches go, Flaherty said, “I can’t speak for Ding, but personally, it made me a little gun shy. I trust what Ding’s doing back there, what he sees and what he feels. He’s been really, really good with it all year. If I didn’t see an immediate reaction out of him, I trust him.
“But I thought they were very borderline and you go in and check and I thought they were strikes. Then you have to move on.”
That there were only three runs on Flaherty’s ledger was a credit to some sterling defense played behind him.
The Mets opened the third inning with three straight singles, the last an RBI knock by Mark Vientos. With two on and one out, left fielder Riley Greene got a quick break on a liner in the gap by Baty and ran down what looked like a double off the bat.
The next hitter, Marcus Semien, hit a ground ball deep in the hole at shortstop. Kevin McGonigle ranged to his right, made a deft backhanded pick, spun and threw a dart to first to end the inning.
McGonigle made a strong play going to his right in the second inning to take an RBI hit away from Francisco Alvarez.
So, isn’t it ironic, then, that a defensive blunder led to the Mets scoring three times and putting the game on ice in the sixth inning.
Again, though, walks that set the table. Reliever Burch Smith walked the last two hitters in the Mets lineup with one out. After a single by Benge loaded the bases, Smith got Bo Bichette to hit a two-hopper to third baseman Workman.
What looked like an inning-ending double-play turned into a two-run error when Workman’s throw to second flew into right field. The third run in the inning scored on a ground out to first by Juan Soto.
“Just keep playing,” Flaherty said. “Keep having guys step up. I was hoping to come out and give these guys a good start, but you hand it over to the next guy and you keep playing the game hard. It’s a hard game. Just keep showing up and having each other’s backs. These guys show up and compete every single day.”
The Tigers also helped create a new folk hero in Queens. It was the much-anticipated big-league debut for A.J. Ewing and he didn’t disappoint. He walked three times, stole a base and in the seventh against lefty Enmanual De Jesus, the lefty-swinging Ewing laced a ball into the right-field corner for an RBI triple.
The Tigers, not expecting him to be able to pull the ball off De Jesus, had the outfield shifted toward left.
Ewing in the first Mets player to triple in his debut.
There was also some bad news for the Mets, who entered the game 10 games under .500. Alvarez, their starting catcher, left the game in the middle of his at-bat in the sixth inning with a left knee injury. The Mets said he is scheduled for imaging Wednesday.
The Tigers, with 17 players on the injured list, are taking on water. Six walks, two errors, three unearned runs allowed, hitless in eight plate appearances with runners in scoring position — not a blueprint for success.
They’ve lost 11 of their last 16 and fall to 7-17 on the road.
“We’re going to treat it like always, put it behind us and come out tomorrow and try to win a ballgame,” Keith said. “I don’t think anybody in this clubhouse is panicking about the loss tonight or where we are in the standings. We all know we got work to do going forward. Just come to the field tomorrow ready to play.”
Chris.McCosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Tigers drop opener to Mets; Dingler hits team-leading 7th homer
Reporting by Chris McCosky, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
