'This group's pretty tough:' Tigers sweep A's, stay in thick of Wild Card picture

WEST SACRAMENTO -- They came in fresh off a devastating loss, traded their best player in the middle of a game and battled triple-digit temperatures in an outlier of a ballpark.

And yet, the 2026 Tigers just kept on winning.

Despite a number of factors working against them, the Tigers were in control from the start of Sunday’s 11-0 win over the Athletics, which wrapped up a three-game series sweep at Sutter Health Park.

“We played a really good series in the midst of a lot of different things swirling around us,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “This group’s pretty tough.”

With 50 games remaining in the regular season, Detroit (54-58) remains squarely in the American League playoff mix, just 2 1/2 games out of a Wild Card spot. Although their biggest Trade Deadline question was answered Saturday night when ace left-hander Tarik Skubal was traded to the Dodgers, the Tigers continue to show there is something to play for.

“We’re in the chase for a spot in the playoffs, so that’s what we’re focusing on,” right-hander Keider Montero said through team interpreter Carlos Guillén.

Montero fired six scoreless innings to pick up the win for the Tigers, appearing unfazed by the summer heat: Sunday’s game-time temperature was 95 degrees, and it only got worse as the afternoon game continued, climbing above the century mark.

The Venezuela native, who has seen his share of sweltering days, said postgame his strategy was to retire A’s hitters as quickly as possible, then “go back to the shade” of the dugout. It worked to perfection, as Montero got mostly soft contact and allowed just two hits without recording a strikeout until the sixth inning.

“He moved the ball around a lot,” Hinch said. “It was a tough day to pitch, despite the fact we didn’t give up any runs. I think these guys had to grind a little bit.”

The Tigers didn’t appear to show it. They jumped out to a quick lead on Spencer Torkelson’s two-out, two-run double in the first inning and never looked back. Second baseman Gleyber Torres -- who has been discussed as a potential trade candidate -- walked four times out of the leadoff spot and smacked a two-run single up the middle in the fourth inning. His four free passes were the most by a Tigers hitter since Torkelson also drew four walks on Opening Day in 2025.

With 18 walks, 41 hits and seven home runs in the three-game series, Detroit started off a nine-game road trip that will continue on Tuesday against the Mariners at T-Mobile Park in fine form offensively.

“It was nice to see balls fly, especially for me,” said rookie infielder Kevin McGonigle, who homered on both Friday and Saturday. “Everyone did a good job, just [kept] passing the bats to the next guy behind them.”

Playing like this, the Tigers look like the team that made it to a decisive fifth game in both the 2024 and 2025 ALDS -- and not much like the club that started the season at the bottom of the AL Central with a 22-38 record.

That’s not easy at an unfamiliar venue (the Tigers were swept by the A’s last August in their only previous trip to Sutter Health Park), nor with an ever-changing roster. In addition to Skubal, Detroit traded veteran catcher Jake Rogers to the Orioles, lost outfielder Matt Vierling (left adductor strain) to the injured list and called up top prospect Max Clark, all in the span of four days.

“The personnel changed,” Hinch said. “We’ve got to deal with that. But the will to win, the push for this season, the overall desire for this group to want to reach the playoffs doesn’t diminish because we made a transaction that changed the makeup of that team.”

On a team that has “leadership by committee,” according to Torkelson, that desire to compete is evident. While the Tigers will spend Monday’s off-day waiting to see if president of baseball operations Scott Harris will make any other trades ahead of the 6 p.m. ET Deadline -- perhaps involving starter Casey Mize, who was scratched from his start on Friday -- they’ll head to Seattle on a high note.

“I believe in this team,” Hinch said. “They believe in themselves. We’ve had a lot to deal with over the last couple of months, and we keep chipping away at this hole that I talk about [that] we dug ourselves. We took a really good step forward in this series.”