The News’ Tony Paul gives his quick takes on the Tigers’ 4-1 victory over the Red Sox on Saturday:
One thing I loved
Kevin McGonigle had two more hits Saturday, giving him the fifth multi-hit game of his young career. He’s played in all 21 games this season, including 20 starts. He’s reached base safely in 19 of those starts, including 17 straight.
McGonigle, who led off the game with a single and scored the Tigers’ first run (ending their skid of not holding a single lead in 56 consecutive innings in road games), already has 24 hits as a major-leaguer. So, I figured I would look up how that hit haul compares to a handful of other folks through their first 21 major-league games. These are the first five names that came to my mind:
To quote Red Sox fans after every seventh inning at Fenway Park, “So good! So good! So good!”
The Tigers’ $150-million man also had an RBI single in the three-run fourth inning, as the Tigers ended their nine-game road losing streak, and clawed back over .500 at 11-10. It was their first road victory since March 27.
One thing I didn’t
Man, Spencer Torkelson and Wenceel Perez really are going through it.
Torkelson stranded four runners Saturday, including three in the first inning, continuing his career-long misery with the bases loaded. He’s now batting .097 in 38 career plate appearances with the bases loaded with one extra-base hit, and 12 strikeouts. On the year, he’s batting .190 with a .576 OPS and hasn’t homered yet.
As for Perez, outside of his big homer earlier in the week, he’s been mostly a nothing-burger dating back well into last season. Since the middle of last September, Perez is 8-for-89 (.090), including 1-for-22 this season, and 2-for-19 during last year’s postseason.
Torkelson, 0-for-4 with three strikeouts Saturday, traditionally is a slow starter and has topped 30 homers two of the last three seasons. Perez certainly should not have that kind of rope, especially when the Tigers’ top minor-league prospect, Max Clark, continues to tear things up at Triple-A Toledo.
Three stars
(Season total in parentheses)
Kerry Carpenter (2)
Kevin McGonigle (5)
Tyler Holton (2)
Player of the game
Tarik Skubal — He had 10 strikeouts, for the 20th game of his career with double-digit strikeouts, including the postseason. It was his first of this season.
Next Tigers game
Game 22: Tigers at Red Sox, 4:35 Sunday (moved back from 1:10), Detroit SportsNet/97.1
ICYMI: Yesterday’s Tigers recap
tpaul@detroitnews.com
@tonypaul1984
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Detroit Tigers, Game 21: One thing I loved, one thing I didn’t
Reporting by Tony Paul, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
