Detroit — The Tigers have been very conscious this month of keeping their focus as far forward and away from the events of May as possible.
Still, as crazy as it is to say on June 7, Kevin McGonigle’s line drive, walk-off single in the ninth inning Sunday was another potentially pivotal moment as the Tigers try to climb back into playoff contention.
“It’s huge,” said McGonigle, whose two-out single that tipped off second baseman Cole Young’s glove gave the Tigers a 5-4 win over the Seattle Mariners at Comerica Park, ending a four home series losing streak. “We’ve had some heartbreaking games this year so it’s good to be on the other side of it. It’s huge for this clubhouse and for this team.”
BOXSCORE: Tigers 5, Mariners 4
The thing is, the Tigers don’t have time for losing streaks. The hole they dug in May is too deep. They went into the finale Sunday with a 26-39 record, 10.5 games behind Central Division-leading Cleveland and 5.5 games out of the final wild-card spot with nine teams ahead of them.
Losing two out of three, losing series at home, it feels more expensive now. To fight back into serious contention, it’s going to take winning upwards of 60% of their games. And that’s not an exaggeration.
“The more momentum we can build now, the better,” said Matt Vierling, whose two-strike ground ball put both Zach McKinstry and Wenceel Perez in scoring position off closer Andres Munoz in the ninth. “We have to keep on doing what we’re doing, winning series.”
After the 6-22 May, they’ve won five of six and taken series from two first-place teams, the Rays and now the Mariners.
“We got to celebrate a walk-off in front of our fans against one of the best closers in the game and a really good team, a team that eliminated us from the playoffs last year,” manager AJ Hinch said. “It feels different. We’ve played back-to-back series against really good teams and you can see how small the margin is. It’s right there for us.”
But this is no time to stop, even with an off day Monday.
“We’re trying not to talk about what we’re not doing or what we didn’t do or how May went,” Hinch said. “We’re trying to focus on what we’re doing now and bring that energy. Our fans were great this weekend. Our energy in the dugout was great. We never thought we were out of it. It was a kick in the you-know-what when they kept tacking on runs but we got the right guy up at the right time.”
In the previous month, the story line would have been about the Tigers’ messy sixth inning, when some two-out hits, walks and a hit-batsmen helped the Mariners take a 3-1 lead. Or the focus would have been not capitalizing on three walks in the sixth inning or stranding the tying run on third base with no outs in the seventh.
Instead, the story is a celebration of the two-run triple by Perez on a ball that first baseman Josh Naylor was inches from getting his glove that cut Mariners’ lead to 4-3; to a celebration of the plate discipline against Munoz, working two walks; a celebration of Vierling’s ability to put a ball in play and advance the runners; and a celebration of a 21-year-old rookie that continues to play beyond his years.
“He’s different,” Perez said of McGonigle. “He’s (bleeping) different. That guy. He’s a great player and I am glad he’s on our team.”
The Mariners opted not to walk McGonigle with first base open in the ninth. Even though he’d put the Tigers on the board in the fourth inning with a 420-foot home run to right field off right-handed starter Luis Castillo.
Gleyber Torres, hitless in his last eight at-bats, was up after McGonigle. But manager Dan Wilson liked the matchup of the veteran Munoz vs. the rookie McGonigle.
Munoz had thrown 17 pitches to that point, just nine strikes. McGonigle took a first pitch slider but jumped at a 99-mph heater. The ball left his bat at 100 mph and just got over Young’s glove.
A party ensued after his first walk-off hit.
“Huge,” said McGonigle, who was still clapping his hands as he approached the post-game media scrum. “From the at-bats before me in that inning, I saw a lot of fastballs. They were sprayed but with my approach, I was thinking fastball the whole at-bat. I got a pitch to hit and was able to put a barrel on it.”
Right guy, right spot.
“You don’t have to be a hero and hit a home run,” Hinch said. “You have to have a controlled at-bat against Munoz. He’s not easy to track. In order to put your best swing on the right pitch, you have to be under control and Kevin was. He’s got that maturity and I think we are watching him figure it out. In those moments, it’s controlling your breathing, controlling your setup, controlling your pitch.
“By not trying to do too much, you do just enough.”
Those are lessons that can take years for the best players to learn.
“It’s the mental part of it for me,” said Vierling, wearing a McGonigle T-shirt as he spoke. “Just to see how mature he is. Obviously he’s got so much talent but to have that good mentality and be so mature and confident at this level at 21. When I was 21, I just got drafted and I was trying to battle in Low-A and he’s doing it in the big leagues. Pretty impressive.”
Again, though, Hinch referenced the margins. Perez’s triple just missed Naylor’s glove. McGonigle’s walk-off tipped off Young’s glove.
“The difference in a game can be a foot,” he said. “Naylor didn’t catch (Perez’s triple) because it was just out past his glove and McKinstry scores. That ball is hit lower and it turns into a double-play and we’re having a very different press conference. That’s the difference sometimes in this game. It’s not always failure.
“It’s just the competition and the margin for winning and losing can be a few inches.”
McGonigle said the focus shouldn’t be on the steepness of the whole mountain, just on the next step.
“I think every game, no matter what our record is, is a must-win,” he said. “You can be in a hole or be up by a lot, it doesn’t really matter. The whole point of this game is to go out and do whatever you can to help your team win. And I think everyone in here has that mindset.”
Chris.McCosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Kevin McGonigle, Tigers walk off Mariners to end home series drought: ‘It’s huge’
Reporting by Chris McCosky, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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By Chris McCosky, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
