Detroit — The last team standing in a crazy back-and-forth ballgame at Comerica Park Friday night was — not the American League East-leading Tampa Bay Rays.
Jonathan Schoop hit a grand slam home run in the bottom of the seventh inning off reliever Andrew Kittredge that sent the Tigers on their way to a rousing 10-4 win.
Schoop’s fifth career grand slam and his 20th homer of the season erased a 4-3 deficit. Victor Reyes’ three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth, a career-long 429-foot bomb to right field, erased all drama and intrigue from a game that was previously thick with it.
Go back to the top of the seventh. The Tigers had just broken a 1-1 tie on a clutch two-out, two-run double by Jeimer Candelario in the sixth inning.
Right-hander Jose Cisnero, the first of three late-inning stoppers who were rested and ready to close this game out, got the first two hitters in the top of the seventh and induced a fly ball into left-center by Nelson Cruz that should have ended the inning.
But the ghost of the horrific collision with center fielder Derek Hill back on Aug. 10 must’ve flashed through left-fielder Akil Baddoo’s mind. After tracking the ball and seemingly in position to finish the play, he backed off and the ball dropped for a single.
Cisnero walked the next two hitters to load the bases, setting the table for pinch-hitter Ji-Man Choi, who emptied the bases with a double — putting the Rays back on top, 4-3.
The Tigers’ answered back against 6-6, fire-balling reliever Pete Fairbanks. Niko Goodrum doubled and Willi Castro singled. Then after Fairbanks threw two straight balls to pinch-hitter Harold Castro, he asked for the grounds crew to fix the landing spot on the mound.
More than three minutes later, he got a called third strike from umpire Jordan Baker that replays showed was clearly inside and off the plate.
But Baddoo, who had hit his big league-leading seventh triple earlier, walked to load the bases. The Rays brought in right-hander Kittredge, who threw a pitch appeared to hit Schoop. Schoop certainly thought so.
The Tigers challenged the call but lost. Two pitches later, Schoop hoisted a slider over the fence. Baseball justice?
Candelario’s two-run double in the bottom of the sixth, was remarkable for a couple of reasons. It was his Major League-leading 40th, for one. And he managed to hit it over the head of one of the best defensive center fielders in baseball, Kevin Kiermaier.
Candelario went down and golfed a 3-2 change-up from reliever J.P. Feyereisen. The ball must’ve had some serious top spin on it. It left his bat with an exit velocity of 107.7 mph and flew 427 feet to the wall.
The only other big-league ballpark that would’ve held that ball was Coors’ Field in Denver.
Nearly lost in the late fireworks was Miguel Cabrera, who at age 38, continues to perform unique feats. Like getting hits in nine straight plate appearances. Do you know how many players age 38 or older have done that in the modern era of Major League Baseball (since 1961)?
Just one. Jose Miguel Cabrera.
He came into the game Friday riding a streak of seven straight hits, the longest of his career. Then he lashed singles off Rays starter Michael Wacha in the second inning and again in the fourth inning. Nine straight plate appearances, nine straight hits.
The second single came after Wacha had struck out five straight Tigers’ hitters.
Back in 1952, Walt Dropo hit safely in 12 straight at-bats with the Tigers. That tied the Major League record held by Cubs’ Johnny Kling (1902) and Red Sox Pinky Higgins (1938).
His streak came to an end in the sixth. Feyereisen struck him out with a slider right before Candelario’s tie-breaking double.
Cabrera was the only Tiger Wacha didn’t get out through four innings. This is until catcher Eric Haase got a hold of a juicy change-up Wacha left over the plate leading off the fifth inning.
Haase, who just missed a homer on a foul ball down the left field line in the second, obliterated the pitch. It left his bat with an exit velocity of 109 mph and sailed 416 feet deep into the seats in left. Haase’s 21st home run tied the game 1-1.
The Rays lost dynamic rookie Wander Franco in the first inning. He singled and went to third on a double by Nelson Cruz. The single extended his on-base streak to 39 games. But he was in pain as he got to third base and left the game.
Initial diagnosis was right hamstring tightness.
Twitter: @cmccosky