Tigers scratch out 5-4 win over Twins on ninth-inning hit by rookie Perez
Chris McCosky
Minneapolis — It was 38 degrees with chilly 15-mph winds swirling around Target Field that made it feel like 29 degrees at game time Friday night.
“You don’t get cold in the big leagues,” said shortstop Zach McKinstry.
Understand, McKinstry is cut from different cloth. It snowed hard when he made his official visit to Central Michigan in 2015 and he still accepted the scholarship.
And the Tigers, too, fended off the conditions and, again, found a way. After giving away a two-run lead in the sixth inning, rookie Wenceel Perez, who contributed to the giveaway, ripped a clutch, two-out single in the top of the ninth and the Tigers scratched out a 5-4 win over the Minnesota Twins.
"I was trying to redeem myself there," said Perez, who had three hits. "When you make a mistake, you want another opportunity to recover and do your best."
With two outs, lefty-swinging Parker Meadows ripped a single off lefty Caleb Thielbar and then took second on an errant pick-off throw. Perez followed, lining a fastball up the middle.
"I was trying to be patient as much as I could," Perez said. "Just trying to get a good pitch to hit and he threw me a fastball down the middle. I didn't miss it."
It was the first time the switch-hitting Perez batted right-handed in the game.
"One of the best things I like about Wenceel is that he's in the moment," manager AJ Hinch said. "He is emotional, meaning he's into it. He makes a mistake early in the game and he doesn't carry that with him. He punches (strikes out) a couple of times and doesn't carry it with him. He just took his swing and gave us a lead."
Jason Foley pitched around a two-out walk and stolen base by Willi Castro and earned his sixth save of the season.
"Every win is important," said Tigers' starter Jack Flaherty, who pitched brilliantly, striking out 10 over six innings. "Not every game is going to be clean and we haven't had a lot of clean ones of late. But when you are able to find a way to win those, it's pretty good."
Flaherty made one bad pitch all night and took a 4-2 lead into the sixth inning. That one bad pitch was an 0-2 fastball right down the middle to lefty swinging Trevor Larnach in the first inning. That ball was scalded, 414 feet to right, a two-run home run.
After that, Flaherty set down 10 of the next 11 with eight strikeouts. He befuddled Twins hitters with his slider and knuckle-curve, throwing both off a 93-mph four-seamer. He got nine misses on 14 swings with the curve, 6 misses on 13 swings with the slider. He also got 19 called strikes.
"I had a good (curve) going and we kept going to it," Flaherty said. "Every game is different, especially when you face a team two times in a row in back-to-back starts. You've got to make subtle adjustments because you know the hitters are going to do the same.
"It was just a matter of getting into a rhythm. That's what you want to do, especially when you got some temperatures like we had tonight."
Then came the sixth. He walked Edouard Julien to start the inning. Ryan Jeffers hit a routine fly ball to right field. Perez misplayed the ball and the Twins had runners at second and third.
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Flaherty responded by striking out lefty Alex Kirilloff, getting him whiffing on back-to-back knuckle-curves, and Larnach, whiffing on a slider.
He got two fast strikes on Byron Buxton, who he’d already struck out twice. But Buxton worked the count full and lofted a fly ball to deep left field. Kerry Carpenter tracked the ball to the track and then toward the left-field line. He ended up overrunning the ball and it fell for a two-run double.
"It was a tough one," said Carpenter, who also redeemed himself collecting four hits and two RBI. "The wind was swirling up there. I got back to the wall and the wind brought it back toward the field. I overran it a little then jumped and I missed it."
As Hinch said, Flaherty deserved a better fate.
"You're going to have some ups and downs like that," Flaherty said. "But at the end of the day, the guys pulled it out with Wenceel having the big hit. Props to him for staying in it, staying in the game. A young guy like that, to come up and have a big knock to help us win the game — that's what matters."
Hinch played lineup roulette again Friday.
He was giving Riley Greene and Javier Báez the start of the game off, so that contributed. But mostly, it was in reaction to Twins starter Joe Ryan, who dominated the Tigers at Comerica Park six days ago.
“I wasn’t going to start the same lineup that he punched 12 times,” Hinch said. “We couldn’t touch that dude. Might as well try something different.”
Different, in this case, was good. He inserted Perez into the No. 2 hole (three hits), Meadows in the No. 9 hole (walk, single, stolen base, two runs) and hit Mark Canha leadoff and kept Carpenter (four hits) and Spencer Torkelson (three hits) together at No. 3 and No. 4.
But different, too, was the Tigers’ approach against Ryan. They were more patient, put more balls into play and thus applied some pressure on the Twins’ talented right-hander – none of which they did in Detroit.
"We probably have the advantage facing him two times in a row," Carpenter said. "We kind of remembered exactly what he was trying to do to us last time. It's better when you can remember shapes of pitches within the last five or six days."
The Tiger scored three times in the first three innings.
Carpenter ripped a two-out double in the first inning and scored on an infield single by Torkelson. Third base coach Joey Cora aggressively waved Carpenter around third even though second baseman Julien quickly retrieved the ball. The throw home arrived well ahead of Carpenter but it bounced by catcher Christian Vazquez.
They scored two more with two outs in the third. Meadows drew a walk after falling behind in the count 0-2 and stole second base. He scored on a two-out bloop single to left by Perez – his first big-league RBI. Perez also stole second and he scored on another opposite-field single, this one by Carpenter, his third hit of the game.
"It was not an easy night to play but we still swung the bats arguably as well as we have all year," Hinch said. "And we ran the bases aggressively. You have to put as much pressure on them as you can. Oddly enough, the pressure we can put on them with our legs takes pressure off our bats.
"Our guys are learning. You've got to play fearlessly. And we do."
Perez got another big-league first in the sixth inning. His first triple, leading off the inning. He scored on another oppo hit by Carpenter. Perez missed a home run by inches.
"Yeah, I have to hit the gym now," Perez said, laughing.
One down note for the Tigers. They lost the services of Gio Urshela in the second inning. He strained his right hamstring running out a ground ball to second base and left the game.
"It didn't look good," Hinch said. "I thought he was running a little funny down to first. And then when he got to first and bent over, I got a pit in my stomach. He's getting evaluated now. I'm never really optimistic on those things, hammys.
"But we hope for the best."
@cmccosky