Detroit — He wasn’t worried about it. He truly was not freaking out or pressing or beating himself up. He just wanted to get one. Sooner the better.
Tigers rookie Spencer Torkelson, the first overall pick in the draft in 2020, is off the schneid.
He looped a double between Boston center fielder Kiki Hernandez and right fielder Christian Arroyo in the third inning of Tuesday’s 5-3 loss, his first big-league hit after starting out 0-for-10.
“I knew it was coming,” he said. “But it feels good to get it out of the way. Funny how baseball works. I felt even more relaxed in the next at-bats afterward.”
The crowd of 15,781 at Comerica Park stood and gave Torkelson an extended ovation.
“That was awesome,” he said. “I’m really thankful for that.”
Eric Haase jokingly said he felt like a proud father after Torkelson’s ball dropped in.
“He really earned his spot on this team,” Haase said. “Hopefully he can get that monkey off his back a little bit. We all know what he can do.”
Torkelson got his knock off 42-year-old lefty Rich Hill, who was drafted out of the University of Michigan two months before he was even born.
“I didn’t know that,” he said. “That’s pretty cool. But at the end of the day, it’s baseball and he’s got to throw a strike and I have to swing at the strikes.”
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The dugout erupted when the ball dropped. Most of the position players understood what Torkelson was going through and how anxiety could start mounting with every empty at-bat.
“Hopefully he can exhale and everybody around him can exhale,” manager AJ Hinch said. “We can all get on to the next at-bat. Tork needs to get all the firsts out of the way. He’s got a few left to conquer (first home run, for example), but we’re happy for him.
“For anyone who’s played, it’s the longest wait in history before your first hit — unless you get it in your first at-bat, but not all of us can be like Akil (Baddoo, who homered in his first big-league at-bat).”
Torkelson was grateful for his teammates’ show of support, but really, he wasn’t sweating it.
“The first one is always the hardest to get, it’s nothing I haven’t been through before, searching for a first knock,” he said. “I felt pretty comfortable and trusting myself. But it definitely feels good, like a weight’s been lifted off my shoulder not that it’s out of the way.”
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky