'This is for them': Venezuelan Tigers duo toss shutout with home on their mind

DETROIT -- Keider Montero started for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic semifinals just three months ago. As he took the mound for the Tigers in Friday’s 8-0 win over the Astros, he had to feel like he was pitching for his country again.

It wasn’t just the “VZ” adorning the side of his cap as he shut down an Astros lineup that had handed him a loss in relief 10 days earlier. It was the heaviness in his heart, pitching two days after two powerful earthquakes devastated much of the country.

Between seven dominant innings from Montero and two innings of relief from Enmanuel De Jesus, Venezuelan pitchers handled the entire shutout. Tigers director of Spanish communications Carlos Guillen, who calls play-by-play on the team’s Spanish radio broadcasts, called the final out on television.

“I'm happy for what I did. I'm satisfied with what I did. But I'm even happier for [how] my teammates helped me to win, to get the win,” Montero said through translation from Guillen. “I got the help and support, and it means a lot.

“Thinking abroad, we, as Venezuelans, we're strong. God helped us to be resilient and strong every day. It hasn't been easy, but this is for them, and this is for trying to give good news to my country.”

Montero knows this all too well. Venezuela’s WBC title was an emotional one for all the players, trying to give hope to a homeland that was already going through struggles. The sight of former Tigers greats and Venezuelan coaches Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez with tears during the medal ceremony brought home what it meant. The Venezuelan Tigers, including Gleyber Torres, wore their WBC jerseys during batting practice the day they returned to Spring Training.

Now this. Montero’s family is physically OK, he said, but everything is clearly not OK, from reports of devastation to homes and infrastructure to the constantly updated numbers of dead and wounded.

“It hasn't been easy the last couple of days,” Montero said. “It's been tough for me catching sleep. It's been hard for me. I've tried to stay away as much as I could from social media. I tried to stay focused before the game. It was not an easy thing. …

”I did my best to get focused to do something good today.”

From the first pitch, Montero was on his game. His lone baserunner over the first three innings came on a Kevin McGonigle error, which was quickly nullified by a ground-ball double play from Jose Altuve. He didn’t give up a hit until a rare opposite-field single from former Tiger Isaac Paredes in the fourth, and he induced a double play again to end the fifth. He didn’t allow a runner in scoring position until the sixth inning, and didn’t give up an extra-base hit until Yainer Diaz doubled in the seventh.

It marked his third outing of six or more scoreless innings in his last five starts.

“He was really good tonight,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “The last two innings were his toughest innings. He had a little bit of a leash given the score and where he was, but we really wanted him to finish that outing as strong as he’d been the entire game.”

De Jesus, also a World Baseball Classic hero for Venezuela, already had experience staying focused. He had pitched in relief Wednesday night after learning about the earthquakes, eventually finding out his family was OK.

“It’s really sad," he said. "I try to stay away [from social media] so I can stay focused on baseball, but it’s really tough. Any place that you have the news, it’s getting worse. More people are found dead. It’s really a difficult situation.”

Said Hinch: “It means a lot to them how much support they’re getting, and yet they carried us tonight.”

After three straight losses by two runs or fewer, the Tigers' offense erupted for a three-run third inning and five-run fourth to provide run support. Astros starter Spencer Arrighetti struck out four of Detroit’s first eight hitters, surviving back-to-back two-out walks in the second inning, before a leadoff walk in the third, a McGonigle single, a run-scoring error and Kerry Carpenter’s 11th home run of the season – a 412-foot drive to right – put the Tigers in control.

Colt Keith’s drive off the right-field foul pole led off the fourth inning before James Outman’s three-run homer put the Tigers up a touchdown. McGonigle’s second stolen base of the game put him in position to score on Dillon Dingler’s bloop single to shallow center, which was Dingler’s 58th RBI of the season – setting a new single-season high for him.