Detroit Tigers need to 'get greedy' after sweep over Chicago White Sox

That’s what Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said before his team’s 5-4 win in 10 innings against the Chicago White Sox on Sunday, June 21.

As in let’s not just settle for a series win. Because, as Hinch is well aware, the Tigers can’t afford to settle right now.

With the win over the White Sox, the Tigers move to 33-44 on the season, now shooting to be a mere 10 games under .500 for the first time since May 20. More importantly, they took three games from an American League Central opponent who entered the series tied for first place in the division, with the Tigers now five games back from a wild-card spot with five AL teams to jump.

The postseason odds are still not in Detroit’s favor nearly halfway through the season, with FanGraphs giving the Tigers just a 22.2% chance to make the playoffs as of Sunday. But playing as hard as they did against the White Sox, the Tigers parlayed hustle into momentum, and momentum into a win.

If they string enough of those together, especially with the next seven games at home, those odds can soon flip in their direction.

Just about everyone who picked up a bat or stepped on the mound for the Tigers did something important in Detroit’s Sunday win. Starter Keider Montero pitched seven strong innings, bringing a perfect game into the fifth inning and battling through runs allowed in the sixth and seventh. Catcher Dillon Dingler hit the game-tying RBI in the ninth and a solo home run in the eighth. Even rookie Hao-Yu Lee, who didn’t enter the game until his pinch-hit opportunity late in the game, hit a one-out double in the seventh and found himself on third after a heads-up read on a pickoff attempt.

But the two most memorable performances from the afternoon arguably came from the two players Tigers fans have been most frustrated with: pinch hitter Jahmai Jones and utility man Zach McKinstry.

McKinstry had an all-around game starting at second base, making a diving stop at second in the first inning, stretching a bloop hit into a double in the third and recording the team’s first RBI with a two-out single to center field in the fifth inning that gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead.

McKinstry came into the game batting .166, the lowest of any Tiger with at least 150 plate appearances, but keeps on getting opportunities because of what he can contribute all around the field.

“There’s a difference between being able to play positions and being good. He’s good. I can put him at second, put him at short, put him at third, obviously all the outfield positions,” Hinch said. “There are things he brings to the field every day to help us win.”

McKinstry isn’t the only player whose hustle gets him playing time, with the struggling Jones pulling through with an opportunity to extend the game in the ninth inning. With two outs and the Tigers down 3-2, Jones (batting for McKinstry) hit a ground ball to White Sox shortstop Luisangel Acuña that came within a step of ending the game. Jones beat out the throw and gave the Tigers some oxygen.

Jones later scored the game-tying run on Dingler’s clutch RBI, with his feet extending the game for Detroit even if his bat has remained ice cold throughout the season.

“We know how important that game was today, and we really believe [until] literally the last out, we’re always in it,” Jones said. “It was a lot of fun to be a part of that, and a lot of fun to see everybody contribute today.”

Entering Sunday’s game, Jones had recorded just two hits in his previous 42 plate appearances dating back to May 17, a slump that earned him a stadium full of boos once again when he was announced as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning on Sunday. Jones calls it “a bad feeling” to hear that from the home crowd, but also said that he can be “a weapon and a puzzle piece” for Hinch when he’s playing well.

“Obviously I want to keep getting those opportunities, keep getting those moments, because the only way I’m gonna get through it is to push through,” he said.

But beyond McKinstry and Jones, it was Detroit’s sluggers who did their jobs late to secure the sweep.

The Tigers are at their best when they get reliable power from the middle of the order, and that showed up on Sunday.

Dingler was the star late, with his eighth-inning home run cutting Chicago’s lead to 3-2 and his ninth-inning RBI single sending the Tigers into extra innings. He leads the team in home runs (18) and RBIs (55), many of them coming in clutch situations like they did on Sunday.

“I think it’s something about his heartbeat … It’s his calmness and his ability to stay within the confines of the game,” Hinch said. “Dillon is a good example of ‘hits the ball hard, it goes far.'”

And he wasn’t the only Tigers slugger to hit the ball hard. Both designated hitter Riley Greene and first baseman Spencer Torkelson had multi-hit games, with Greene’s 110 mph single in the 10th inning advancing free runner Kerry Carpenter to third base and Torkelson’s 102 mph single driving in Carpenter to tie the game at 4-4.

But when it was time for center fielder Matt Vierling to play hero in the 10th, it was a 63 mph bases-loaded blooper to right field – the second softest hit of the day for the Tigers after McKinstry’s third-inning double – that brought home Greene for the game-winning run.

“It’s baseball, man,” Vierling said. “Sometimes it falls, just like [Carpenter’s] a couple nights ago, me today, just trying to put the ball in play and good things happen.”

Vierling made sure to celebrate his walk-off, but knows that the three tallies in the win column mean something a little extra for his team than individual heroics.

“With how things have gone, with how good of a team that is over there, to be able to finish off a sweep like this was huge. We need every win we can get right now,” he said.

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You can reach Christian at cromo@freepress.com.