CLEVELAND — Left-hander Joey Wentz, a member of Triple-A Toledo’s roster Thursday, joined the Detroit Tigers as the 27th player for Friday’s doubleheader against the Cleveland Guardians and didn’t have to wait too long to see some action.
The Tigers started Wentz in Game 2.
Wentz, who entered Friday’s appearance with a 7.03 ERA in 18 games, delivered his first scoreless start of the season, completing five innings on 83 pitches. But Tigers relievers Andrew Vasquez and José Cisnero allowed four runs in the eighth inning for a 4-1 loss to the Guardians in Game 2 at Progressive Field.
“We got to avoid the walks,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said, referencing the six walks overall, with two walks each in the seventh and eighth innings. “Eventually, they’re going to come back to bite you. … Four walks in the in the last couple innings late in a game like that, you’re generally going to pay for it.”
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The Tigers (55-67) trail the Guardians by 3½ games for second place in the American League Central, with the Minnesota Twins in first place. With five scoreless innings, Wentz improved his ERA to 6.62 through 19 games (17 starts) this season.
The 25-year-old walked back-to-back batters in the fifth inning, but following a mound visit from pitching coach Chris Fetter, he recovered by retiring the next two batters — José Ramírez (first-pitch changeup) and Andrés Giménez (fourth-pitch cutter) — with popouts.
Wentz finished with two walks and three strikeouts.
“I thought I executed some pitches better,” Wentz said. “That’s what I attribute it to. To be honest, I thought I threw the ball pretty good. I’m just happy to throw some zeros up for the team.”
The Guardians picked up three of their five hits in a five-batter span in the second and third innings. In the second inning, right fielder Kerry Carpenter saved two runs for Wentz with a sliding catch in right-center field, including robbing Gabriel Arias of extra bases for the third out.
Wentz threw 34 cutters (41%), 21 fastballs (25.3%), 15 curveballs (18.1%) and 13 changeups (15.6%). He generated 16 whiffs with nine cutters, four fastballs, one curveball and two changeups.
His cutter had a 45% whiff rate and averaged 86.9 mph.
His cutter usage, velocity and whiff rate were significantly higher than the averages — 24.9% usage, 85.9 mph and 28% whiff rate — over his first 18 games leading into Friday’s start. He threw more cutters than fastballs for the first time this season.
“I’m throwing from the stretch only now,” Wentz said. “I’m trying to simply the approach and simplify some of the stuff I’m doing. Not feeling like I have to be able to hit every spot with every pitch, but just knowing where I can go with certain pitches and trying to execute.”
One run isn’t enough
A mistake from Guardians right fielder Oscar Gonzalez provided the Tigers’ only run. He lost a high fly ball from Andy Ibáñez in the lights with two outs in the fourth inning.
Riley Greene opened the inning with a single, but he was still standing on first base after Spencer Torkelson’s strikeout and Carpenter’s flyout. On the misplay, though, Greene demonstrated the fundamentals by running hard around the bases despite the likely third out of the inning.
The 22-year-old ended up scoring for a 1-0 lead.
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Following Wentz’s five innings, right-hander Beau Brieske (1⅔ innings) and left-hander Vasquez (⅓ innings) carried the Tigers’ pitching staff into the bottom of the eighth inning.
Vasquez, who threw two of 11 pitches for strikes, walked the first batter in the eighth inning. Cisnero, a right-hander, came out of the bullpen to clean up the mess, only to walk Kole Calhoun with one out.
Then, Cisnero imploded.
“I’ve been working on my four-seam fastball and my sinker,” Cisnero said. “I was looking for a double play, which happened, but unfortunately, we weren’t able to make the double play. I was trying to use my cutter, and it wasn’t breaking as I wanted it to break, so that was the difference.”
Brayan Rocchio tied the game, 1-1, with a line-drive single into center field. A wild pitch from Cisnero, which skipped passed catcher Eric Haase, put two runners in scoring position.
Will Brennan made Cisnero pay for the ball in the dirt with a double over the head of center fielder Matt Vierling. The double upped the Guardians’ lead to 3-1. Arias then ripped a single to right field for a 4-1 advantage.
Cisnero needed 31 pitches to get three outs.
“It looked like he was yanking balls to the glove side,” Hinch said. “It’s two outings in a row yanking his cutter, and then a couple backed up on him when he was trying to correct it. Maybe a little bit of overcorrection in the middle part of the zone responding to a little bit of erratic pitch-making.”
Not helping themselves
The Tigers finished 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
There were too many missed opportunities.
In the second inning, Carpenter was thrown out trying to advance from first base to third base for the third out. He tested the arm of left fielder Steven Kwan — a Gold Glove winner in 2022 — and wasn’t close to being safe.
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In the fourth inning, after the Guardians’ blunder on defense, Javier Báez ripped a single in his return from the bereavement list. Zach McKinstry stranded runners on the corners when he struck out swinging. In the fifth inning, Greene flew out to left field and stranded a runner at third base.
Right-hander Xzavion Curry, who started for the Guardians, allowed one run on five hits and two walks with six strikeouts, throwing 54 of 81 pitches for strikes. He has a 3.24 ERA in 31 games (six starts) this season.
“He was very athletic and dotted a lot of pitches early,” Hinch said. “He came out and really took control of the game from the beginning. We were able to take advantage of the ball lost in the twilight, and we took the lead, but he never backed down.”
The biggest missed opportunity from the Tigers occurred with two outs in the seventh inning, after Báez’s single and Haase’s walk.
The Guardians switched relievers, from right-hander Nick Sandlin to left-hander Sam Hentges, and the Tigers countered by pinch-hitting Vierling, a right-handed hitter, for Akil Baddoo, a left-handed hitter. Vierling battled for 10 pitches but struck out swinging on a down-and-in curveball.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.