After dropping the first two games of their series against the Padres in San Diego, the Tigers’ already dim playoff chances began to shut off for good on Thursday night. Their offense once again struggled to get anything going against Padres’ southpaw Martin Perez and they were staring at a 3-0 deficit headed to the ninth inning.
Instead of being another crushing defeat though, it turned into a microcosm of how their season has gone. After a soul-crushing loss on Wednesday where they blew an early 5-0 lead and lost in extra innings, the Tigers stormed back to win on Thursday evening in the most dramatic way imaginable.
Parker Meadows Saves The Day
Heading into the ninth inning on Thursday the Tigers had been shut out on six hits by Perez and a host of Padres’ relievers through the first eight frames. If they were going to stage a miraculous comeback, it would need to come off of star flame-throwing Closer Robert Suarez.
Things started innocently enough as Justyn-Henry Malloy lined the first pitch of the inning into left field for a leadoff single. Rookie Third Baseman Jace Jung then pinch-hit for Jake Rogers and worked Suarez for a six-pitch walk, bringing the tying run to the dish in the form of Spencer Torkelson.
Torkelson wouldn’t be the hero in this one though. After getting ahead in the count 2-0, he popped out weakly to second base for the first out of the inning. Colt Keith then followed Jung’s lead and worked Suarez for a six-pitch walk to load the bases.
Ninth Inning Miracle
That brought red-hot slugger Kerry Carpenter to the dish as the go-ahead run. After taking a changeup out of the zone, Carpenter saw three straight fastballs at 100 mph+ from Suarez, going down on a swinging third strike for the second out in the inning. It was all up to Parker Meadows.
After facing Suarez in the ninth inning of Wednesday’s game, Meadows knew that the heat was coming. The right-hander poured in five straight fastballs at 100 mph or more – three of them out of the zone – to run the count full at 3-2. Down to their final strike, Meadows caught up to a 100-mph fastball and crushed an opposite-field 361-foot grand slam to give the Tigers a 4-3 advantage and keep their playoff hopes alive for the time being.
Since returning from Triple-A Toledo on July 5, Meadows has slashed a robust .307/.342/.544 with four homers, 14 RBI, and six stolen bases in 29 games while playing phenomenal defense in center field. He has truly been a catalyst of the Tigers’ late-season surge.
Tyler Holton Closes It Out
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Coming from behind dramatically like that is one thing, but it would have meant absolutely nothing if the Tigers didn’t leave San Diego with a victory on Thursday night. That’s where Tyler Holton comes in. The versatile 28-year-old southpaw has been unbelievable for the Tigers during the 2024 season – registering a 2.35 ERA, minuscule 0.82 WHIP, and a 61/14 K/BB across 80 1/3 innings in his 56 appearances. His job on Thursday was simple though, get the final three outs and get out of town with a win. Challenge accepted.
Holton got Manny Machado to bounce back to the mound and Donovan Solano to fly out to right field to start the inning. He did allow a two-out single to Xander Bogaerts that put the tying run on base but battled back to retire Padres’ rookie sensation Jackson Merrill on a fly ball to center field to close it out, earning his seventh save of the season in the process.
News and Notes
With the victory, the Tigers climb back to one game over the .500 mark at 71-70. They still sit five games behind the Royals for the final Wild Card spot in the American League. The schedule is about to open up for them though, as they’re heading to Oakland to take on the cellar-dwelling Athletics for three games beginning on Friday night and will then return home for three games against the last-place Rockies.
Realistically, the Tigers will need to go 5-1 or 6-0 during this stretch to really make things interesting. Stranger things have happened though. As Catcher Jake Rogers keeps telling the media, “Don’t let the Tigers get hot”. Right-hander Reese Olson (shoulder) began a minor league rehab assignment at Triple-A Toledo on Thursday.
Casey Mize struggled in his second start off the injured list on Wednesday, surrendering three runs on five hits and a pair of walks over 5 1/3 innings while recording only two strikeouts.
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