Detroit — Zach Short made a diving stop to get the runner out at second. The Tigers, who had lost five straight, were on their way to closing a dismal home stand with a complete, team victory. The throw down to first— potentially the final out of a shutout win — was late.
And you can probably guess what happened next: Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe, the tying run at the plate, not only broke up the shutout, but also tied the game with a two-out, three-run homer that barely cleared the right-field wall at Comerica Park on Thursday afternoon.
Tie game, 3-3, and just like that, six innings of brilliant pitching from Tigers starter Matt Manning were spoiled.
Still, the game needed a hero, and on this day, that was Gleyber Torres — the Yankees’ second baseman, who had already made two gaffes in the field earlier in the game.
Short hit a grounder to Torres that probably should have been a double play to end the 10th inning, but Torres made an errant throw, allowing Kerry Carpenter to score from third, as the Tigers snapped a five-game losing streak with a 4-3 win.
The Yankees challenged that there was runner interference on Parker Meadows, who was out at second, to no avail. The play was scored an error on Torres, his second of the game.
“It feels good. We’re going on to Chicago happy, with a good flight. That’s all that matters,” Manning said.
Manning used his breaking ball early and often with great effect in Thursday’s win over the Yankees at Comerica Park, as the righty selected his slider on 47% of pitches — 17% more than his season average — to stave off a four-game home sweep and continue his excellent run to close the month of August.
Manning has now given up just one earned run in his last four starts combined — all Tigers wins — dating back to Aug. 12 in a 6-2 win at Boston. In six scoreless innings thrown against the Yankees on Thursday, Manning got a total of 13 whiffs, giving up just two hits and two walks, while striking out four and picking off a runner at second, helping ensure the Tigers (60-74) would end their 11-game home stand with a semblance of momentum.
Detroit closed the stretch of home games — which also included a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros — with a record of 4-7, and they were outscored, 63-37.
“I was glad (Manning) got through it healthy, and that was the one thing I was really conservative about with him,” Hinch said. “I know it’s always easy to just let him run out of gas until the gas tank’s empty. We had a plan to get him into the fifth or sixth inning coming off the back stiffness. He fought me a little bit, like all these guys do, to stay in, which means he’s healthy. It’s a good sign.
“But six scoreless after the way these guys swung the bat the first three games, hitting the ball out of the ballpark, I thought, was tremendous. … He set the tone today by missing some bats with two strikes, by initiating the aggressiveness and controlling the bases, keeping the ball in the ballpark and having as close to a perfect outing that he could have had.”
Until Alex Lange took the mound in the ninth, the Tigers’ pitching as a whole was nearly perfect. Relievers Jason Foley and Tyler Holton each pitched an inning of hitless, scoreless ball to hold the three-run lead after Manning departed.
Then, with Lange on the mound, Oswaldo Cabrera and DJ LeMahieu singled — doubling the Yankees’ hit total on the day with those two swings. With one out in the ninth, Torres hit a grounder to Short, but the double-play attempt wasn’t in time. And in stepped Volpe, who hit a 341-foot home run that took Carpenter all the way to the wall in right field.
Hinch said he thought Lange’s outing was “way better than the (score)line” indicated.
“These guys are tough. I mean, LaMaheiu fights the breaking ball off and breaks his bat and bloops the ball in there, and all of a sudden, the tying run comes to the plate,” Hinch said. “Gleyber hits the ball on the ground — easy to say we should have turned the double play, but it’s a tough play. … So, I thought Alex battled … very important for him to get out of that inning where it was and give us a chance in the bottom of the ninth.”
Riley Greene, Andy Ibáñez and Carpenter each had two-hit days, with Greene and Carpenter also adding RBI singles. Short homered for the Tigers, his sixth of the season.
After issuing a leadoff walk to LeMaehieu in the first inning, Manning used just 10 pitches to strike out the Yankees’ next three hitters. He used five sliders in his at-bats with Torres and Volpe, then struck out Giancarlo Stanton on three straight fastballs in the lower third of the strike zone.
BOX SCORE: Tigers 4, Yankees 3 (10 inn.)
The Yankees (65-69) got a base runner in the fourth inning on a one-out double by Volpe, who was promptly picked off by Manning before the next at-bat could even officially commence. In the second inning, Tigers catcher Carson Kelly threw out Jake Bauers trying to steal second.
“It was definitely an emphasis” to make sure the Yankees didn’t gain an edge on the base paths, catcher Carson Kelly said.
“Seeing them run, just kind of making sure our pitchers were aware, continue to check the runners and mix up your times and things like that. We did a good job of that today and we got somebody out at second base.”
Short broke the scoreless tie in the fifth inning, as Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt made his first big mistake of the day. Schmidt’s 2-0 sinker missed high and inside on Short, allowing the shortstop to turn on it for a 369-foot home run that skimmed past the foul pole in left to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.
“(Clarke) was mixing that cutter and sweeper really well,” Short said. “I came back from my first at-bat and kind of had a tough time differentiating between the two. But I mean, he went two cutters to start and I figured that he was gonna try to go something in, off of that plane. But yeah, he had us off-balance for a majority of that first five innings or so.”
After Kelly walked in the next at-bat, a nightmare inning for the second-baseman Torres commenced. He bobbled a double-play ball from McKinstry and was only able to get the force out at first, bringing Riley Greene to the plate with Kelly in scoring position and one out. Schmidt’s 2-2 cutter was again left high and inside and was again turned on by the Tigers’ batter for a line-drive single to score Kelly for the 2-0 lead. The hurt didn’t stop there.
Ibáñez hit a rocket to second that was bobbled by Torres and unsuccessfully flipped to second in time. It was scored a base hit. Torkelson popped up for the second out — which should have been the third, maybe even the fourth, of the inning — but Carpenter roped a line drive to left, scoring Greene and putting runners on the corners.
A 3-0 scoreline and more runners threatening brought an end to Schmidt’s day after 4-2/3 innings. Right-handed reliever Keynan Middleton entered the game and ended the inning by promptly getting Miguel Cabrera to settle for a first-pitch groundout.
Kelly continued to flash his defense in the sixth with a runner on first. He quickly snagged a hit from LaMahieu that bounced off the plate and straight back up, tagged the batter out and fired down to Ibáñez at second, who put the tag on Oswaldo Cabrera for the inning-ending, 2-4 double play.
In the eighth, Tigers rookie outfielder Parker Meadows doubled down the left-field line before stealing third, the second stolen base of his career. Short and Kelly walked to load the bases with one out, but McKinstry and Greene both struck out to end the inning.
As it would turn out, those were much-needed runs.
nbianchi@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @nolanbianchi