'Hats off to Sawyer': Tigers rookie Gibson-Long stands out in 8-2 loss against A's
Game two of the Tigers' four-game series against the A's turned out to be a lopsided victory for Oakland, but manager AJ Hinch was impressed with the performance of his rookie pitcher Sawyer Gibson-Long.
In just his third career MLB start, Gibson-Long gave up only one run in five innings as the A's feasted on Detroit relief pitching for a commanding 8-2 victory at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, ending an eight-game losing streak.
"You're going to have to pitch with less than your best sometimes and he did," Hinch told reporters after the game. "Hats off to Sawyer. He competed his tail off, which he's always going to do, and he found a way to navigate through some trouble early."
The early trouble came in the first inning when the A's managed a pair of hits, including an RBI double by Zack Gelof. Trailing 1-0, Gibson-Long, a 6-foot-4, 225-pound right-hander who was acquired from the Minnesota Twins in a trade for Michael Fulmer in 2022, settled down and allowed a total of four hits with four strikeouts in five innings.
In the fifth inning, Gibson-Long got himself out of a sticky situation. After dispatching the first two batters, he gave up a pair of singles to Nick Allen and Ryan Noda and issued a walk to Gelof to load the bases. However, he was able to force some weak contact by Seth Brown and escaped the inning thanks to a fly out to center field.
The script was much different for Detroit’s relief pitchers. Leading 2-1 on Carson Kelly's two-run homer in the fifth inning, Will Vest came in to relieve Gibson-Long in the sixth inning.
Vest immediately gave up a game-tying, solo homer to Brent Rooker. After Oakland's Tony Kemp reached first thanks to an error from Javier Báez, Lawrence Butler added a single before the Tigers pulled Vest, replacing him with Tyler Holton.
Holton also gave up a home run against the first batter he faced, as Shea Langeliers blasted a three-run homer to recapture the lead for the A’s, 5-2. Trey Wingenter was the third relief pitcher and he couldn’t do anything to slow down Oakland’s batters, allowing three insurance runs. Jose Cisnero closed out the game for the Tigers, who are 72-82 and in third place in the Central Division.
"Our pens not in great shape," Hinch said. "We can't get to the off day fast enough."
Detroit's offense also struggled aside from Kelly's 417-foot homer, two doubles by Báez and another milestone for Miguel Cabrera, the two-time MVP who plans to retire at season's end. Cabrera hit his 624th career double off starter Ken Waldichuk in the fourth inning, tying Hank Aaron for the 13th most in major league history. It was the 3,168th hit of Cabrera's career, 16th in majors history.
The Tigers, who won the opening game 7-3 on Thursday, will wrap up the series in Oakland on Saturday and Sunday at 4:07 p.m., before returning home to Detroit with an off day on Monday. They'll begin the season-ending, six-game homestand on Tuesday with three games against the Kansas City Royals and then three games against the Cleveland Guardians.
Alex Faber is a freelance writer.