Torkelson Falls a Single Short of Cycle as Tigers Hold Off Pirates 8-7
The short version
- Spencer Torkelson tripled, doubled and homered, finishing a single short of the cycle.
- The Tigers beat the Pirates 8-7 at Comerica Park; Detroit is 75-85, Pittsburgh 81-79.
- Jackson Jobe struck out eight over 5⅓ innings, allowing two runs.
- Torkelson scored on a two-run dropped third strike, the first such play in MLB since 2013.
- Kenley Jansen recorded his 498th career save after Andrew Sears allowed five eighth-inning runs.
Spencer Torkelson tripled, doubled, homered and scored on a dropped third strike while Jackson Jobe struck out eight in Detroit's win over Pittsburgh.
Spencer Torkelson came within a single of hitting for the cycle, and the Detroit Tigers survived a late Pittsburgh rally to beat the Pirates 8-7 at Comerica Park on Saturday, Sept. 25. Detroit improved to 75-85, while Pittsburgh fell to 81-79.
The Pirates jumped ahead early. Oneil Cruz drew a leadoff walk in the second, stole second, and scored on Ryan O'Hearn's one-out single. Spencer Horwitz then doubled with two outs to bring O'Hearn home and make it 2-0.
Torkelson answered in the bottom of the second. With runners on first and third and two outs, his line drive skipped past a diving Jake Mangum in right field and rolled to the wall. Eduardo Valencia and Brett Callahan scored, and Torkelson pulled into third with his first triple of the season, tying the game at 2-2.
Detroit broke it open in the third. Dillon Dingler's two-out, bases-loaded single scored Kevin McGonigle and Valencia for the lead. Torkelson later swung through a changeup for strike three, but the wild pitch got away from catcher Rafael Flores Jr., allowing two more runs to score as Torkelson reached first. It was the first two-run dropped third strike in MLB since 2013, putting the Tigers up 6-2.
Torkelson added a one-out double in the fifth, though the ball was dropped in center by Oneil Cruz on the approach and probably should have been ruled an error. His solo home run in the seventh — his 26th of the year — stretched the lead to 8-2. He never got his chance at the cycle, left waiting in the on-deck circle when the eighth inning ended.
Tigers starter Jackson Jobe allowed two runs over 5⅓ innings with eight strikeouts, four of them called, using his slider to set up fastball whiffs. It was his third consecutive start with at least eight strikeouts, his fifth straight start of five-plus innings, and his fourth in a row allowing three runs or fewer. He threw 86 pitches.
The bullpen nearly gave it away. Reliever Andrew Sears surrendered five two-out runs in the eighth, capped by a three-run homer from Flores that cut the margin to 8-7. Kenley Jansen then worked a scoreless ninth for his 498th career save, leaving him two shy of 500. Eduardo Valencia reached base five times with two hits and three walks, and a sixth-inning error by Pirates rookie Konnor Griffin produced Detroit's seventh run.
The result sets up Justin Verlander's final MLB start, scheduled for Saturday at 1:10 p.m. EDT in Detroit's second-to-last game of the season, on the day the Tigers held a pregame celebration in his honor.
Pittsburgh and Detroit meet again Saturday, September 26 at 1:10 PM EDT at Comerica Park, with the game available on MLB.TV and Tigers.TV.
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