Detroit Tigers left-hander Framber Valdez didn’t generate a swing and miss until his 59th pitch.
It finally happened in the fifth inning.
The lack of whiffs didn’t hurt Valdez’s 87-pitch performance, as he induced a flurry of weak ground-ball contact en route to allowing just one run across seven innings.
The Tigers supported Valdez with a comeback in a 2-1 win against the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday, April 14, in the first of three games in the series between the American League Central rivals at Comerica Park.
For the Royals, left-hander Cole Ragans delivered six scoreless innings while allowing one hit.
Both the Tigers and Royals were limited to four hits.
The Tigers (8-9) and Royals (7-10) meet again Wednesday (6:40 p.m., Detroit SportsNet), with right-hander Jack Flaherty pitching for the Tigers and right-hander Seth Lugo for the Royals.
In Tuesday’s game, the most important scoring chance for the Tigers occurred in the eighth inning.
That’s when everything changed.
Zach McKinstry opened the eighth with a double off right-handed reliever Nick Mears and moved up to third base on Gleyebr Torres’ groundout to the right side of the infield.
Standing on third, McKinstry would’ve scored on pinch-hitter Colt Keith’s line drive up the middle – but Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. made a diving catch to save a run.
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With two outs, a wild pitch from Mears on a changeup below the strike zone to Kevin McGonigle allowed McKinstry to score standing up for a 1-1 tie. After McGonigle walked, the Tigers took a 2-1 lead on Dillon Dingler’s double to the wall in left field.
Just like that, the Tigers have won four games in a row.
The Royals scored their lone run in the second inning.
In the second, Salvador Perez singled, Starling Marte singled and Jonathan India walked to load the bases for Carter Jensen, who grounded into a force out. His weak grounder was enough to score the runner from third, giving the Royals a 1-0 lead.
The Tigers could’ve attempted to turn a double play, but first baseman Spencer Torkelson ranged in front of McKinstry at second to field the grounder – rather than covering first while letting McKinstry field the ball rolling toward him.
The walk to India made the difference.
In that matchup, Valdez missed the up-and-away corner of the zone by roughly an inch with his sinker, resulting in a seven-pitch walk. (He also walked Lane Thomas in the third inning.)
Aside from the second inning, Valdez cruised past the Royals in the other six frames. He completed his outing by retiring the final six batters, including these three in the seventh: Marte (groundout), India (popout) and Jansen (groundout).
The biggest threat of another run came in the fourth, when Vinnie Pasquantino produced a 361-foot fly ball to the warning track in right field.
But Pérez made the catch.
Valdez allowed one run on three hits and two walks with one strikeout across seven innings, throwing 58 of 87 pitches for strikes. The 32-year-old generated three whiffs on 43 swings for a 7% walk rate, doing so with two sinkers (on 33 swings) and one changeup. He didn’t get any whiffs on seven swings against his curveball.
He owns a 3.75 ERA in four starts.
As for Ragans, he shut down the Tigers across six innings.
He avoided damage on Matt Vierling’s single and McGonigle’s walk with a double play in the first, then he did the same with Vierling’s walk and Pérez’s walk by inducing a groundout in the fourth. He also wiped away Torkelson’s walk with an inning-ending double play in the fifth.
Ragans has a 3.78 ERA in four starts.
After the Tigers took a 2-1 lead, right-handed reliever Kenley Jansen took the mound for the ninth inning. Although Thomas hit a leadoff single, Jansen ended up stranding him at third to finish the game.
He secured the 479th save of his career, surpassing Hall of Fame right-hander Lee Smith for sole possession of third place on the all-time list, trailing only Mariano Rivera (652) and Trevor Hoffman (601).
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Tigers support Framber Valdez with 8th-inning rally, 2-1 win vs Royals
Reporting by Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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