Kansas City, Mo. — There’s always that moment in a baseball game, that pivotal moment where the outcome hangs in the balance. It can come early, late or somewhere in the middle innings.
That moment for the Tigers on Monday came in the eighth inning. They trailed 2-0 and had not scored a run in 20 innings. Not since Kerry Carpenter’s three-run homer in the fifth inning Saturday in Seattle. They were shut out 2-0 Sunday in Seattle and seemed on the verge of enduring the same fate against the Central Division cellar-dwelling Royals.
Fitting, then, that it was Carpenter, who snapped the scoreless drought with a two-out, bases-loaded walk in the eighth inning. Matt Vierling, who was 0-for-13 since the All-Star break, followed with a two-run double to right field and the Tigers beat the Royals 3-2 in the first game of a four-game series at Kauffman Stadium.
“It almost feels like we stole that one, and that’s huge for us,” Vierling said. “Down the road and through this stretch, that’s going to be big for us. Being able to win as many games as we can, especially like that, coming from behind, it gives us a lot of confidence.”
It wasn’t just the fight-back that was encouraging. There were clutch plays made in several facets by multiple players. Start with the outfield defense.
“That’s the no fly zone,” left fielder Akil Baddoo said. “We’ve got each other’s back. Just go out and give it all you got. Our pitchers are doing their best to execute pitches. We have to do our job when the ball is in the air.”
No team has turned more balls in the air into outs, per data collected by Sports Info Services, and this game could be used as an illustration.
Vierling in right field took a hit away from Michael Massey with a full-frontwards diving catch of a sinking liner with a runner at first who was running on the pitch.
Center fielder Riley Greene, with two on and one out in the seventh, made a Willie Mays-esque over-the-shoulder catch of another line drive hit by Massey. Greene got a rare bad read on the ball but he made an incredible recovery and was able to catch it like a wide receiver running a post pattern.
Last but by no means least, Baddoo made a catch in the eighth inning that saved the one-run lead the Tigers had just taken. Reliever Jason Foley gave up a single to Samad Taylor, who promptly stole second base. Leadoff hitter Kyle Isbel, hitting left-handed, sliced a ball into the corner in left.
Baddoo broke immediately and was able to track it 77 feet and catch it with a lunge.
“I was playing a little shallow but straight-up,” Baddoo said. “It was slicing. I tried to get a read the best I could and bring it down. It felt like I was running for days. I’m glad I got it.”
So was Foley, who buckled down, striking out Bobby Witt, Jr., and after issuing an intentional walk to left-handed hitting MJ Melendez, got Freddie Fermin to rollover to first base.
“Those plays, looking back, were key,” manager AJ Hinch said. “When they had a 2-0 lead, that felt like a ton with how our offense was going. Little plays like that end up being big.”
The offense didn’t wake up until Baddoo led off the eighth inning with a hustle double.
“We had a really hard time getting on time, especially against Lyles,” Hinch said.
Kansas City’s veteran right-hander Jordan Lyles, who came in with a 1-11 record and an ERA just under 7 (6.42), pitched six innings of scoreless baseball. The Tigers managed multiple hits in just one inning. They hit two balls hard in the third, but got nothing to show. Eric Haase and Zach McKinstry launched 759 feet of fly balls. Both were caught right in front of the wall in right center.
Baddoo’s double broke the seal off reliever Taylor Clarke in the eighth. Then with two outs, Clarke hit Riley Greene in the shoulder blade with a 94-mph fastball and walked Spencer Torkelson. Royals manager Matt Quatraro made a hasty move to the bullpen, bringing in right-hander Jose Cuas, who had just started warming.
That was the moment.
Cuas didn’t throw a single strike and Carpenter didn’t chase. He happily took the free RBI and handed the baton to Vierling, who delivered the game-flipping hit.
“I loved how we hit with leverage,” Hinch said. “It would have been easy for Carp to expand the zone. He doesn’t. It would have been easy for Tork to expand the zone. He doesn’t. And then Vierling probably has the toughest matchup, right-handed against a right-handed side-armer.
“But he stays inside and smokes a ball down the right field line.”
All that was left was for Alex Lange to lock it down. He did it in 10 pitches, punching out Nick Pratto and Drew Waters and then getting Matt Duffy to ground out for his 15th save.
“Credit to (pitching coaches) Chris Fetter, Juan Nieves and Robin Lund,” said Lange, a Kansas City-area native. “Those guys have been pushing me and giving me some tips and tricks. It hasn’t been going my way or the way we were expecting it to the last month and a half, but we’re going to keep working.
“We’re not going to lay down. Just keep chugging and keep trying to get better and keep locking down games at the end for the boys. We’re playing hard and playing good baseball. It’s fun to be a part of.”
Tigers starter Matt Manning followed up his 6.2-inning, no-hit performance before the All-Star break with another solid start. He gave up four singles and a pair of runs in 5.2 innings. Three of the hits and the two runs came in a three-hitter blip in the fourth inning.
Tough that he left trailing.
“I felt really good about it,” Manning said. “After the fourth when I gave up those two runs, Tork came up to me and said, ‘Don’t worry, we’re going to score more than two runs.’ I just said, ‘All right.’ And they did.”
The Tigers have won three of four coming out of the All-Star break.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky