Anaheim, Calif. — Momentum is a fickle thing in baseball. It doesn’t always follow a logical path. Score 10 runs one game, get shut out the next, that type of thing.
So who knows if the Tigers’ dramatic 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels Friday night at Angels Stadium will be any kind of springboard into this crucial stretch of games coming out of the All-Star break. Safe to say, though, the hooting and hollering in the clubhouse afterwards seemed a healthy contrast to the way the last two losses to the Phillies before the break felt.
“It was a huge emotional shift from where we were 10 minutes ago,” manager AJ Hinch said after rookie Hao-Yu Lee delivered a two-out, two-run double in the top of the ninth. “It just felt like the whole day, we never got anything started, never caught a ton of energy. But when you can sneak out a win after the way the first eight-plus innings went, the clubhouse should be loud. They earned it.”
The Tigers’ offense had been stymied before the break by two elite starters — Cristopher Sanchez and Zack Wheeler. And on Friday, lefty Reid Demters, who aside from Tarik Skubal, might be the most coveted starting pitcher at the trade deadline, blanked them on four hits through six innings.
They went into the ninth trailing 1-0. At that point, they hadn’t had multiple base runners in any inning.
“We really had a hard time kickstarting the offense,” Hinch said. “We couldn’t put anything together. And the back of their bullpen lined up how they usually go. But you’re never out of it until the end.”
BOX SCORE: Tigers 2, Angels 1
In the ninth, veteran right-hander Kirby Yates hit leadoff hitter Dillon Dingler with a two-strike pitch. Hinch sent James Outman out to pinch-run.
“The reason we ran the bases aggressively (Matt Vierling had stolen second with two outs in the eighth) is because we weren’t putting back-to-back at-bats together,” Hinch said.
With one out, Outman stole second and Riley Greene drew a walk.
With Kerry Carpenter up, Outman got a huge break and would’ve easily stolen third base. But Carpenter swung and popped out to shallow left. It seemed like the inning was dead right there.
“It’s always hard to take the bat out of his hand,” Hinch said when asked if Carpenter was supposed to take the pitch. “You look at the play on a macro level, you’d love to get the runners to second and third. That’s why we put on the green light so that a sacrifice fly would score the run.
“But we want Carp swinging at the right pitches. He can hit the ball out of the ballpark or hit one in the gap. You get the out or the foul ball and it feels like what could’ve been. But players play and you want to give them the freedom to play.”
That brought Lee to the plate.
“We had all the confidence in the world,” Kevin McGonigle said. “Hao-Yu has been great. When he’s coming up, everyone was confident in him and he came through.”
That he did. He laced a 1-0 fastball from Yates and drove it beyond right fielder Jo Adell, scoring both runners.
“I saw on the (scouting report) that he throws 72 percent fastballs,” Lee said. “I asked the hitting coaches, what does his fastball look like? They said more like a two-seamer. I was looking for an outside pitch because I know if it starts outside, it will come back over the plate.”
That’s exactly how it went and Lee didn’t miss it. He punched the air a few times as he got to second base and the dugout went bananas.
“I was blacked out,” Lee said. “I wasn’t really thinking. I just felt really good.”
There was plenty of drama left, though.
Troy Melton, who grew up in Anaheim attending countless Angels games, survived a 27-pitch first to get the Tigers through 5.2 innings. He struck out nine and allowed only four hits.
Hinch went to Keider Montero to not only finish the sixth but, as it happened, finish the game. He dispatched the first seven hitters, four with strikeouts including the top of the Angels order in the eighth. Even with a rested Kenley Jansen, the game’s active saves leader, and Kyle Finnegan in the bullpen, Hinch chose to ride or die with Montero.
“You have to remember, when he catches his rhythm and gets going, he’s got a starter’s package to get through any lineup for a long time,” Hinch said. “Given the way he was pitching, he had his rhythm, he was punching out everybody, I felt he earned it. It wasn’t a knock on anything that’s going on with our bullpen or the options we do have.
“It was just using his pitches at the right time when he’s feeling the way he was feeling. I thought it was the right call for us.”
Turned out to be just that, though Montero got some help from his friends.
He started the bottom of the ninth by hitting Jorge Soler with a two-strike pitch. Jose Siri dropped a single in short center.
Still, the Tigers’ bullpen was quiet. Nobody warming.
“It was his to win,” Hinch said of Montero. “Everyone says, his to lose. But it was his to win.”
Montero got Jo Adell to pop out to second for the first out. Next batter, Oswald Peraza, hit a high chopper to McGonigle at third base. McGonigle leaped, snared the ball and made a quick throw to first base. Spencer Torkelson dug it out and, as replay confirmed, Peraza was out by a half step.
“First off, I’d like to thank Tork for what he does over there,” McGonigle said. “It’s really special. It was nice to get a ball hit to me and do something to help the team. It was a tough play. Just happy I made it.”
That left it up to Denzer Guzman. With two outs and the tying and winning runs at third and second, he hit a slow ground ball to Zach McKinstry at shortstop. McKinstry’s throw was also in the dirt. And Torkelson dug it out, again.
Ballgame.
“I take a lot of pride in that,” Torkelson said. “Just trying to help my guys out as much as possible and give them as much confidence throwing the ball to first as possible. I work on it every single day.”
Massive win. Happy clubhouse. No ground gained — the Tigers remain 6.5 games back in the Central Division, 3.5 back in the Wild Card race — but no ground lost.
“Any win is really valuable here,” Torkelson said. “Maybe it can be a win that propels us. But we take this one day at a time and we try to win every single day no matter what. This just validates that there is more than one way to win. Unbelievable at-bats in the ninth. Melton and Keider both have been nails. Just really good team baseball.”
Chris.McCosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Tigers’ Hao-Yu Lee delivers in ninth inning to down Angels
Reporting by Chris McCosky, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Chris McCosky, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
