Kansas City – This one would’ve left a mark. The Tigers had leads of 3-0 and 5-3. They had base runners in every inning but one. They drew eight walks and had 11 hits. But they left 13 runners on base and were 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position.
Which is why, against a Kansas City Royals team that was 20 games under .500, the game was tied 5-5 after nine innings.
“If we had left all those guys on base and lost the game, it would have hurt − it would have hurt a lot,” right fielder Matt Vierling said. “But to come out with a win, it doesn’t matter how many we left on base.”
Javier Báez made sure it was a happy clubhouse. With the bases loaded in the 10th inning, he lined a first-pitch fastball from reliever Scott Barlow over the head of left fielder Nick Pratto, clearing the bases and sending the Tigers to an 8-5 win at Kauffman Stadium.
“To be honest, that’s the best feeling in the world,” Báez told Bally Sports Detroit’s Johnny Kane on the field afterwards. “I’m just happy I got to contribute and get a good win for my team.”
The ball left Báez’s bat with an exit velocity of 111 mph. It was Báez’s third hit of the game and the first two hits had a combined exit velocity of 111 mph. Neither of the first two hits left the infield.
“I think Javy had the softest hit ball and the hardest hit ball of the game,” manager AJ Hinch said. “We’ll take them both.”
BOX SCORE: Tigers 8, Royals 5 (10)
Alex Lange, who grew up in Lee Summit, just outside of Kansas City, was asked to work two innings with the game tied 5-5. He pitched a clean eighth inning in eight pitches and then stranded a lead-off walk at second base in the ninth. His scoreless innings streak is at 16.2 innings.
“I wasn’t really expecting to go another one,” Lange said. “It was like, ‘Shiver me timbers.’ (Hinch) asked me how I felt after the eighth and I said, ‘I got another one in me. Whatever you need.'”
That left the 10th to Jose Cisnero. He walked the first batter he faced, which, with the free runner, brought the tying run to the plate.
“We came to the mound after that just to let him reset,” Báez said. “That’s all he needed. He took it from there.”
Cisnero struck out Pratto and Vinnie Pasquantino and then after a wild pitch, got Salvador Perez to fly out to end the game.
Hinch has steadfastly refused to label Lange or anyone else the closer and a game like this one showed why. Hinch didn’t want to use right-hander Jason Foley, who had worked two of the last three games. And the heart of the Royals order was coming up in the eighth.
“With the way the momentum of the game was going, if Lange could get through the middle of their order, we could extend the game,” said Hinch, referencing the fact the Royals had already expended five relievers at that point in the game. “Our pitching was in better shape than theirs was. So if we could extend the game, we had a better chance to win.”
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And Lange needing only eight pitches to get through the eighth played into the strategy, as well.
“We’ve talked over and over about the back end of the game,” Hinch said. “He can’t just wait for the last three outs and a clean inning all the time. He’s going to have to be ready in the eighth. I don’t really care how many saves he earns. I know tonight we needed him to pitch in a different part of the game than he has and that’s why we keep these guys sharp.”
It looked early like the Tigers weren’t even going to need Lange or any of the leverage relievers.
Royals right-hander Brady Singer has pretty much owned the Tigers in his young career. He came in 6-0 in 10 starts with a 2.44 ERA. He hasn’t been that guy much this year, as his bloated 7.09 ERA, his .903 opponent OPS and incomprehensible 60% hard-hit rate would attest.
And he certainly wasn’t that guy Monday. He threw 37 pitches in a three-run first, gave up a two-run homer to Matt Vierling in the third and didn’t finish four innings.
His stat line was crowded – five runs, seven hits, four walks. It was the sixth time he’s allowed five or more runs in a start.
Vierling did the most damage against him. His two-out single in the first scored runs and then in the third he scalded a 2-1 slider and hit it 401 feet to left field, a two-run shot.
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“I feel good,” said Vierling, who had three hits and a walk and is 8 for 16 with two homers in his last four games. “I feel relaxed. Hitting is up and down sometimes but I feel like I’m seeing it and I’m real relaxed up there.”
The Tigers, for the second straight game, drew eight walks. Spencer Torkelson walked four times.
“We went in knowing if we could control the strike zone we’d put a lot of pressure on them,” Hinch said. “We kept rolling the lineup over and over. And some of those walks that didn’t come to score, they’re important because it sets up Javy to be up in that spot and it sets up the other key at-bats.”
Tigers starter Michael Lorenzen had allowed just two runs in his previous 20 innings covering three starts. He gave up three runs in three batters in this one. In fact, three regrettable pitches him five runs and the Tigers a pair of leads.
He threw a 1-2 changeup to Vinnie Pasquantino in the first inning. The pitch stayed in the middle of the plate and it looked like Pasqauntino was sitting on it. He hit it 424 feet, a two-run homer.
Or as Lorenzen said, “He hit it about 700 feet.”
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Two pitches later, he threw a slider down but over the middle of the plate to Salvador Perez. That one traveled 419 feet, back-to-back home runs.
From there, Lorenzen settled in. He set down 11 of the next 12 batters and took a 5-3 lead into the fifth. Nicky Lopez led off the inning with a triple and Jackie Bradley, Jr., followed with a two-run homer to left field.
Lorenzen had just beaten Bradley, with back-to-back 96-mph fastballs. But he came back with a slider and Bradley, barreled it up. Tie ballgame.
The veteran Bradley had quite a game. He made two stellar catches in center field that saved three runs. With two on and two out in the second inning, Spencer Torkelson drove one into the gap in right-center. Bradley was shading Torkelson to pull and the ball left the bat with an exit velocity of 104 mph.
Bradley tracked it and caught it two steps in front of the wall.
He took an RBI double away from Zack Short in the seventh, racing back to the wall to snare Short’s 406-foot missile. The expected batting average on that ball was .660.
“I know we stranded a lot of runners,” Hinch said. “But tonight I can honestly say we put some really good swings with runners in scoring position. But we didn’t need to hit it Jackie Bradley, Jr. It could’ve been a lot different game…But you have to play the full game and we needed a lot of guys to contribute.
“This feels like as much a team win as we’ve had.”
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky