detroit – The atmosphere inside the Tigers clubhouse at Target Field on the Fourth of July was fun. no music. No conversation. Just a group of tired-looking ballplayers on a road trip trying to regroup after losing five of the first seven games, with one more city and three more games remaining.
In a season-worst nine games under .500, the only thing missing in that room was a trumpeter playing taps.
Hide the trumpet.
Since that day, the Tigers have taken on the Reds in Cincinnati, winning three of four over American League Central Division-leading Cleveland and, after a second consecutive spirited ninth-inning rally, three of the National League West-leading Dodgers. Won two out of them.
Trailing 3-2 in the ninth Sunday, Zach McKinstry led off with a triple against right-hander Yohan Ramirez. Justin-Henry Malloy singled in the tying run and then Ramirez misplaced two bunts. One by Ryan Vilade and the next on Wenzel Pérez, allowing Malloy to score the winner – 4–3 Tigers.
Box Score: Tigers 4, Dodgers 3
mlb standings
The Tigers (47-50) are trending in a positive direction heading into the All-Star break.
“I’m really proud of the way these guys battled last week to give us some momentum before the break,” said veteran Mark Canha, who battled hip and wrist pain last week. “Unfortunately, I had a front row seat in the worst way. But to see this team rally and do what they’ve done is amazing.”
These past two games are emblematic of both the inconsistency and resiliency shown by the Tigers in the first half. Especially on Saturday when they went down by five runs in the ninth inning and were completely defeated and came back completely to record their 19th win.
On Sunday, they came out of the gate slow and fell into a 3-0 hole before their first at-bat.
Both teams played a bullpen game and Tigers opener Beau Briscoe got the first two outs on seven pitches.
By the time the inning ended, he had thrown 27 pitches and had three runs.
His troubles began when right fielder Pérez played a bloop the wrong way off the bat of right-handed hitter Will Smith to short right field. Pérez initially misjudged the ball with his bat and then the wind kept blowing it back towards the infield.
It hit the inside of his wrist, over his glove, and scored a double.
Teoscar Hernandez got a legitimate RBI double behind Briscoe’s 2-2 changeup and scored on a single by Andy Paige.
Miguel Rojas rolled an infield single and Paige advanced to third after shortstop McKinstry’s throw to first baseman Andy Ibañez. Rojas finished second and Pages scored from third, while the Tigers were in the process of tagging Rojas in the rundown.
But things soon resolved. Lefty Tyler Holton pitched two scoreless innings, and then veteran righty Kenta Maeda, who was sent to the bullpen earlier this week, kept the Dodgers off the board until the seventh.
Maeda looked a far cry from the pitcher who had been tagged with 15 runs in his previous two starts. He had high velocity on all of his pitches (2.3 mph on his splitter and 2.6 mph on his four-seam fastball). Movement was better on all his pitches.
He allowed only one infield hit to Shohei Ohtani and struck out five in 3.2 innings. The crowd of 35,159 at Comerica Park gave him a warm welcome before leaving.
Andrew Chaffin finished seventh, Jason Foley finished eighth and Alex Fedo finished ninth. After Foley walked two Dodgers in the ninth, Fedo walked Gavin Lux to load the bases and then homered to Chris Taylor to fall behind 3–0.
He rallied and got him out with a 3-2 fastball.
And meanwhile, the Tigers ran away. Urshela’s sacrifice fly in the fourth scored Colt Keith, who singled and advanced to third on Matt Vierling’s double.
In the sixth, a ground out by McKinstry gave way to Riley Green, who advanced on a single by Carson Kelly and a fly out to right field by Urshela.
The Tigers were in position to steal the game for the second consecutive day.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccoskie
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