A two-out walk proved costly for left-handed reliever Daniel Norris in the sixth inning, especially with the Detroit Tigers‘ anemic offense facing one of the best pitchers in baseball amid a brilliant performance.
After the walk, San Francisco Giants veteran Evan Longoria blasted a slider that stayed in the strike zone for a two-run home run.
He put the Tigers in a three-run hole.
“Looking back, that’s a tough sequence of events when he’s seemingly in control of the inning after the two outs,” manager A.J. Hinch said, “and then the walk. … That was a little bit of a common theme tonight, and those always come back to haunt you at the worst times.”
Giants left-hander Carlos Rodón shoved seven innings of one-run ball, as the Tigers lost, 3-1, in the first of two games in the series at Comerica Park. The Tigers (47-77) posted seven hits and one walk with 12 strikeouts.
The Tigers had a chance to win in the bottom of the ninth inning.
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Facing Giants right-handed closer Camilo Doval, Victor Reyes doubled with one out and advanced to third base on a passed ball. Javier Báez bounced a grounder back to Doval, who failed to pick up the ball cleanly.
Eric Haase drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases.
But Miguel Cabrera struck out looking and Harold Castro grounded out.
“The disappointing part is we lose,” Hinch said. “I don’t care how many we strand, it’s the end the of the game. Haase had a really good at-bat. If he would’ve thrown a strike 3-0, who knows what would’ve happened. He was swinging there.
“Gotta give yourself a chance. We gave ourselves like one chance. That’s where it’s hard in a nine-inning game against any team at this level.”
More problems with the fastball
Rodón, who threw 63 of 92 pitches for strikes, lowered his ERA to 2.81 over 25 starts. He allowed a leadoff single to Riley Greene in the first inning and didn’t allow another baserunner until Castro’s two-out single in the fifth inning.
“A lot of swing and miss today, which is tough,” Hinch said. “Obviously, you got to put the ball in play and you got to keep fighting. And we did. I thought we had nice at-bats as the game went on and got a little bit in sync towards the end.”
The Tigers advanced a runner to second base for the first time in the sixth inning. With two outs, Greene reached on an infield single, which should have been ruled an error at first base on Rodón. The ball bounced to first baseman Wilmer Flores, and he flipped the ball chest-high to Rodón.
But Rodón dropped the ball.
An ensuing wild pitch pushed Greene to second base, but later in the at-bat, Reyes struck out swinging on a slider to end the sixth. Reyes also grounded into a double play following Greene’s single in the first inning.
In the seventh, the Tigers got on the scoreboard.
Báez popped up a slider that dropped into center field for a bloop single that should have been a double with some hustle
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He made up for his frustrating mental mistake by stealing second base. It was his eighth stolen base this season. He came around to score on an RBI single from Haase, cutting the Tigers’ deficit to 3-1.
“Early in the game, I thought he was in command of the game and our at-bats were just OK,” Hinch said. “We didn’t do a ton to put pressure on him. The swing and miss is part of his game. It’s been a nemesis for us. You match those two together, and it can turn into a tough night.”
In total, Rodón allowed one run on five hits with 10 strikeouts and no walks. The 29-year-old has eight double-digit strikeout games this season and 20 in his MLB career.
For Rodón’s 92 pitches, he used 56 four-seam fastballs (61%), 30 sliders (33%) and six curveball (7%). He recorded 23 swings and misses — 17 fastballs, six sliders — and 14 called strikes for a 40% called-strike-plus-whiff rate.
His fastball produced 17 whiffs, nine called strikes, seven fouls and five balls in play. On those five fastballs put in play, the Tigers averaged an 86.6 mph exit velocity. Haase lined out to deep center field in the fifth inning and produced a team-best 101 mph exit velocity against Rodón’s heater.
“It’s in, it’s up top, it’s left-handed,” Hinch said of Rodón’s fastball. “It gets better as the game goes on. His first pitch of the game was 90-91 (mph) and he sat 96-97 (mph) at the very end. That’s kind of how he pitches.”
Coming through in the Hutch
Right-hander Drew Hutchison carried the Tigers through five innings and, for the most of his outing, matched Rodón. Hutchison allowed one run on four hits and two walks with three strikeouts, throwing 47 of 78 pitches for strikes.
The Giants scored that run in the first inning.
Hutchison put himself in trouble from the onset, as Tommy La Stella singled and LaMonte Wade Jr. fell behind 0-2 in the count but worked a walk. A double play put a runner on third base with two outs, and Joc Pederson delivered an RBI single on a two-strike fastball above the strike zone.
“I had a long first inning,” Hutchison said. “I did a good job getting the double play ball, and then I gave up the hit. I actually thought I executed that pitch pretty well, but he just put a good swing on it. I wasn’t as sharp early on, but I thought I got there as the game was going.”
For Hutchison’s 78 pitches, he tossed 33 four-seam fastballs (42%), 32 sliders (41%), eight changeups (10%) and five sinkers (6%). He turned the ball over to the bullpen, and Norris couldn’t keep the Tigers within one run.
“I started to land my changeup later in the outing, which got me into some good counts,” Hutchison said. “I think that played a part in it.”
After back-to-back turns in the starting rotation, Tuesday’s sixth inning was Norris’ first relief appearance with the Tigers in 2022. (He came out of the bullpen 26 times for the Chicago Cubs earlier this season and 62 times for the Tigers from 2016-21.)
It didn’t go as planned.
Norris retired the first two batters before walking Pederson. The next batter, Longoria, hit a second-pitch slider for a two-run homer to left-center field, giving the Giants a 3-0 lead.
“Now, he’s hit more homers against righties than lefties, and that’s about the only thing that can hurt us there — the homer,” Hinch said. “He tried to go down-and-away with the breaking ball and yanks it in, and Longoria doesn’t miss it.”
The next three relievers — José Cisnero in the seventh inning, Joe Jiménez in the eighth and Andrew Chafin in the ninth — kept the Giants from scoring.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.