Carpenter and Torkelson help extend Tigers’ winning streak

The Tigers have extended their winning streak to four, and it’s starting to look like it’s not just luck. They beat the Mariners 7-3 on Friday night.

The Tigers were back in Detroit after a very hot and cold road trip. They were still riding the high of their sweep of the Rays at the start of the week, and hoping to bring that good luck home with them. They had Gleyber Torres, who has been excellent since his return, and on the mound, they were leaning on Framber Valdez. The Mariners had Bryan Woo up, who has been great for them in a very uneven season for the M’s.

J.P Crawford got things going for the Mariners in the first with a leadoff single. Julio Rodriguez singled right behind him. Two outs followed, but then Rob Refsnyder singled, bringing Crawford home and putting the Mariners on the board first. Gleyber Torres continued his hot streak, starting the bottom of the inning with a single. Kevin McGonigle then grounded into a force out, eliminating Torres at second. Two more outs followed and the Tigers left a man stranded.

Valdez, after giving up three singles in the first, got into a much better groove in the second, getting the Mariners out in order. In the home half, Riley Greene singled to get things going. Spencer Torkelson hit a force out that initially looked like a single with Greene getting safely to first, but the Mariners challenged and the call was overturned with Greene out. Two more outs followed.

In the top of the third, Crawford was hit by a pitch to get a free bag. While he did stay in the game to run, he would later exit the game between the top and bottom of the inning. He was eliminated in a double play off the bat of Rodriguez and then one more out ended the inning. With one out in the home half, Torres singled again. McGonigle then singled, sending Torres to third. A Dillon Dingler fly ball turned into a force out, getting McGonigle out at second, putting Dingler safely at first, and scoring Torres. Then Kerry Carpenter came in to hit a home run to right. The Tigers found themselves in the lead, 3-1.

Josh Naylor and Rob Refsnyder hit back-to-back singles to start the fourth. Three outs in a row, followed though, as Valdez showed some evident frustration in himself, but pulled it together to get out of the jam. The Tigers went down in order in the bottom of the inning.

With two outs in the fifth Rodriguez walked. He then stole second. Randy Arozarena walked, and then Rodriguez stole third and Arozarena stole second. Despite having two runners in scoring position and rain falling steadily, Valdez got himself out of the inning relatively unscathed and with no runs scored. The Tigers went 1-2-3 in the home half, but the final out of the inning, a McGonigle groundout to first, resulted in McGonigle colliding with first baseman Naylor so hard Kevin’s helmet flew off. He looked okay, but it was still pretty ugly.

After a few uneven innings and an elevated pitch count, Valdez was done for the night with a final line of 5.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K on 102 pitches. He was replaced by Drew Anderson. The Mariners went three-up, three-down with the final out of the inning being on an incredible diving catch from Riley Greene.

Dillon Dingler got the home half going with a leadoff single. A Carpenter pop out and Greene hitting into a double play ended the inning.

With one out in the top of the seventh, Colt Emerson hit a solo home run to bring the Mariners within one. After the second out, Rodriguez doubled, but Seattle didn’t score any additional runs. In the bottom of the inning, Colt Keith got a one-out single. We then got Zach-to-Zack singles from McKinstry and Short. Woo’s game was done at that point, replaced by Eduard Bazardo. Torres doubled to right and Victor Robles misread the play, missing the catch completely, and sending two runs home.

Tyler Holton was the next pitcher out of the Tigers’ pen and he gave up a leadoff double to Naylor. After a Canzone groundout moved Naylor to third, Kerry Carpenter completely lost a routine fly ball, allowing Naylor to score. Cole Young singled, and that was all she wrote for Holton, who was replaced by Kyle Finnegan. The Tigers got to breathe a big sigh of relief as the next two outs followed, but those extra insurance runs were really coming in handy now. Alex Hoppe came in from the Mariners’ pen. With one out, Greene singled. Then Spencer Torkelson hit a home run to left.

Will Vest was in for the Tigers in the top of the ninth. With two outs, Arozarena doubled, followed by a walk to Naylor. Not ideal. Even though the drama got dialled up to eleven, Vest came through and got the final out of the inning to secure the Tigers’ win.

Final: Tigers 7, Mariners 3