Welcome to September! The Tigers were in San Diego, facing off against the Padres, with their bullpen pulling full-game pitching duty, up against Joe Musgrove for the Padres. It was a very low-scoring outing, so let’s take a look at how the game shaped up.
The first inning went 1-2-3 for both sides, with Tyler Holton taking the first two innings for the Tigers.
To start the second, Kerry Carpenter hit a leadoff single, but three outs quickly followed to leave him stranded. Onto the home half and Holton got two outs before giving up a single to Jackon Merrill. A groundout, however, ended the inning scoreless.
The Tigers went three-up, three-down in the top of the third. In the bottom, the Tigers turned to Brenan Hanifee. With one out in the inning, Mason McCoy hit a single back to Hanifee, and McCoy was able to leg out his single and end up on second thanks to a throwing error from Hanifee. Luis Arraez then singled to bring McCoy home and score the first run of the game.
Riley Greene opened the fourth with a walk, then Matt Vierline singled to put two on. But three outs followed for a classic TTBDNS. Ty Madden was the next pitcher in from the Tigers’ pen. He got two outs, before Merrill singled, but Madden pitched out of the jam.
The fifth inning was 1-2-3 for both clubs.
In the sixth, Vierling got a two-out single, and Kerry Carpenter followed it up with a walk. However a Colt Keith strikeout left both runners stranded and the Tigers still scoreless. The Padres went down in order in the home half.
Jason Adam relieved Musgrove in the seventh, and got two outs. Trey Sweeney then singled, and successfully stole second. That was where he stayed. The Padres were once again hitless in the bottom of the inning.
Tanner Scott was the next Padres pitcher up. Andy Ibanez replaced Parker Meadows, but the Tigers’ sole baserunner was Riley Greene, who got a double. In the home half, Kyle Higashioka doubled to start things off. Mason McCoy then singled, advancing Higashioka to third. A Luis Arraez single then scored Higashioka. That was it for Madden, who gave way to Jason Foley. Foley got one out, then a force out off the bat of Jake Cronenworth got McCoy out at home. Manny Machado singled, scoring Arraez, and finally Foley got the last out of the inning.
Robert Suarez came in for the ninth, hoping to get the final three outs of the game. And so he did. The series opener ended with the Tigers getting shutout. Better luck… Wednesday, thanks to a deeply random off day tomorrow.
Final: Padres 3, Tigers 0