The News’ Tony Paul gives his quick takes on the Tigers’ 7-3 victory over the Mariners on Friday:
One thing I loved
Last weekend in Chicago, I asked Tigers manager AJ Hinch how much the injuries were to blame for the Tigers’ extreme struggles. And Hinch gave a long answer, though he never really gave a definite answer, other than making sure to stress that the team wasn’t using injuries as the excuse.
But the fact is, since Kerry Carpenter and Gleyber Torres returned to the lineup, they’ve made a difference:
Both were impactful again Friday, with Torres going 3-for-4 including leading off the game with a hit for the third time in three games since his return, while Carpenter hit his second home run in four games as the Tigers improved to 4-0 in June after going 6-22 in May.
The Tigers, by the way, had 18 home runs all of May. They have 12 in June, including Spencer Torkelson’s two-run shot in the eighth inning Friday. The Tigers had three games of double-digit hits in May. They have four in four games in June. Every Tigers starter had at least one hit Friday night.
One thing I didn’t
Torres’ biggest hit of Friday night’s game (and the Tigers’ fourth straight win) was a two-run double in the seventh inning that padded the Tigers’ lead. And it made up for a bad base-running blunder by Colt Keith.
Keith finally snapped the worst offensive drought of his career with a sharp single to left field — he was hitless in his previous 19 at-bats, and his previous six games — and got to second on a one-out single by Zach McKinstry. Then, Zack Short drilled a line single to center field. Yes, to recap, that was three straight hits by Keith, McKinstry and Short. If you had that on your parlay, congrats on becoming a millionaire.
For some bizarre reason, though, Keith froze on Short’s single and so he had to stop at third when he should’ve scored easily. Fortunately for the Tigers, Torres made it moot. But you just wonder if Keith’s severe struggles at the plate (his OPS is .638) and his lack of a position on defense are really starting to chip away at his self-belief. You can almost see the eroding confidence on his face with every slow walk back to the Tigers’ dugout.
Three stars
(Season total in parentheses)
Riley Greene (17)
Kerry Carpenter (5)
Framber Valdez (7)
Player of the game
(Season total in parentheses)
Gleyber Torres (1)
Tigers’ uniform tracker
Next Tigers game
Game 65: Mariners at Tigers, 1:10 Saturday, Detroit SportsNet, 97.1
ICYMI: Wednesday’s Tigers recap
tpaul@detroitnews.com
@tonypaul1984
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Detroit Tigers, Game 64: 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
By Tony Paul, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
