The News’ Tony Paul gives his quick takes on the Tigers’ 3-2, 10-inning loss to the Mets on Wednesday:
One thing I loved
That was the outing the Tigers desperately needed from Framber Valdez, who, with Tarik Skubal recovering from arthroscopic elbow surgery, is the de facto ace of this pitching staff, whether he wants to be or not.
Valdez was coming off one of the worst outings of his major-league career (if not the worst) — which ultimately led to his ejection, and then his suspension — and turned in 6.2 impressive innings Wednesday. He had all his pitches working, most impressively a lethal 12-to-6 breaking ball. He allowed five hits and two runs, while striking out seven. Valdez did walk two, including one in his last inning, the seventh, which he couldn’t quite finish. He departed with a 2-1 lead, before Bo Bichette’s two-out single off Kyle Finnegan tied the game.
But this was much more like the Valdez the Tigers believed they were getting when they signed him to a three-year, $115-million contract. And they need a whole lot more starts like this one, and no more starts like last one. If the veteran lefty can oblige — through nine starts for Detroit, he has five very good ones, two so-so ones, and two very bad ones — that’d be a huge boon for a Tigers rotation that is patchwork right now, but also appears to be getting reinforcements soon, in Casey Mize and Troy Melton. Mize (right adductor strain) could return by the end of the week, and Melton (right elbow inflammation) threw a rehab game Wednesday, for Triple-A Toledo.
Skubal’s timetable for return still is TBD, with educated guesses ranging from a June to August comeback. In the awful AL Central, the Tigers can possibly get by without him until mid-summer. Assuming, of course, they eventually start hitting a little — and if Valdez consistently does what Valdez can do. Kinda like that.
One thing I didn’t
With all these replays and ABS challenges, we thought the days of the “Ump Show” had gone the way of the Dodo Bird. Well, Junior Valentine turned back the clock. Valentine, the plate umpire, made two brutally bizarre calls on Wednesday night at Citi Field.
The first came in the bottom of the sixth inning, when he called strike two on Mets batter Brett Baty, who was visibly annoyed and started to motion for the helmet before thinking better and stopping pre-tap. Valentine still determined Baty challenged, and the call was upheld. The at-bat ended in a strikeout, but more importantly, the Mets had exhausted their challenges. Then, in the top of the seventh, Tigers batter Dillon Dingler was cited by Valentine for a pitch-click violation, even though he was in the batter’s box and engaged at the eight-second mark, as required. Instead, it was oddly deemed strike three. I’d deem it an old-fashioned makeup call.
Adding to the clown show, in the eighth inning, Valentine barked at the Tigers to move their on-deck circle. Not once, but twice. Apparently, they were blocking the pitch clock. Whatever.
They say the best umpires are the ones you never notice, let alone know their names. That was Junior Valentine.
Three stars
(Season total in parentheses)
Framber Valdez (5)
Dillon Dingler (10)
Kenley Jansen (1)
Player of the game
(Season total in parentheses)
Riley Greene (12)
Going the distance … and then some
The Tigers are now X-X in extra-inning games
Next Tigers game
Game 44: Tigers at Mets, 1:10 Thursday, Detroit SportsNet, 97.1
ICYMI: Yesterday’s Tigers recap
tpaul@detroitnews.com
@tonypaul1984
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Detroit Tigers, Game 43: 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
