'You've just gotta ride the wave': Tigers win wild home run derby

DETROIT -- Tigers manager A.J. Hinch is an avid fan of watching other games on TV when he’s not at the ballpark, so he had an instant reaction watching the Brewers and Athletics slug 11 home runs in Las Vegas on Monday night.

“I wouldn’t wish that upon any manager, having to sort through that game,” Hinch said Tuesday afternoon. “Watching it go back and forth, I think I was suffering for both managers. … It felt like that game was never going to end.”

Hours later, Hinch got a taste of it in one of the least likely ballparks for a homerfest. But on a hot and humid night at Comerica Park, the Tigers pulled out a slugfest with help from the same source who helped them through a similar game at Tropicana Field eight days ago.

“Ultimately, it’s all about confidence,” said Dillon Dingler, whose second two-homer, four-hit, four-RBI game in just over a week lifted the Tigers to a 10-4 victory over the Twins for their sixth win in seven games. “Once you have a sliver of confidence, it can go a long way. You’ve just gotta ride the wave.”

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It’s more than a wave for Dingler. Only Rudy York hit more homers as a Tigers catcher through his first 60 games in a season than Dingler, now with 16. And York’s 20-homer barrage through 60 games in 1938 included a two-week stint in left field because York’s defense at catcher was supposedly viewed as a liability.

Dingler won an AL Gold Glove Award last year in his first full MLB season. Now, he’s making a push for All-Star consideration to go with it. And each of his offensive outbursts this month came during games when he had to guide his pitchers through trouble all night.

“I think he’s just pretty much good at everything,” said Tigers starter Troy Melton, who tested the baseball adage that solo homers don’t beat you by allowing four of them but lasted five innings for the victory. “He does such a good job commanding the whole game.”

Maybe Hinch’s pregame comments were an omen, or maybe the same storm system that brought early evening showers and a 1-hour, 50-minute rain delay brought hot, humid conditions for balls to fly. But from the first pitch of the night -- a 98 mph fastball from Melton that Byron Buxton lined over the left-field fence -- the Tigers and Twins were slugging and exchanging leads.

Dingler matched Buxton in the bottom of the first by crushing a hanging curveball from Taj Bradley down the left-field line. Riley Greene’s leadoff homer in the second powered Detroit in front, but Josh Bell went opposite field on Melton’s 96 mph heater and sent it into the left-field seats. Back-to-back homers from Brooks Lee and former Tiger Kody Clemens powered Minnesota in front in the fifth with the sixth lead change of the night.

“We were able to limit them to solo homers, which is obviously key in a game like this,” Hinch said. “But it was definitely an odd night.”

The first multi-run homer of the game changed the lead for good. The Tigers had kept pace against Bradley with solo homers from Dingler in the first inning and Riley Greene in the second, plus a Greene sacrifice fly in the third. Kerry Carpenter followed Dingler’s leadoff double in the fifth with a drive to right for a two-run homer and a 5-4 lead.

Dingler stepped to the plate in the sixth against sidearming lefty reliever Taylor Rogers, needing a triple for the cycle. Instead, he connected with a sweeper down and in and homered to nearly the same spot down the left-field line where he homered earlier. This time, he drove in Zach McKinstry and Gleyber Torres, whose two-run single in the seventh put Detroit into double digits.

“I was trying not to look as ugly as I did on the first homer,” Dingler joked. “So I had to slow things down.”

Dingler finished with 11 total bases in a game for the second time in nine days. He’s 11-for-28 in June with five homers and 14 RBIs. He has struck out just twice this month, both in the last couple of games. Including the last game in May, he went six games and 24 at-bats without a strikeout before Sunday.

“Not to make it simple, but I feel like I’m getting good pitches in the heart of the zone,” Dingler said. “We’ve been working on turning barrels, or whatever you want to say. I feel like it’s ultimately getting pitches in the heart of the plate.”

The eight home runs are the most in a game at Comerica Park since July 27, 2020, tying the second-highest total in ballpark history. The only game at CoPa with more homers happened on Aug. 8, 2004, when the Tigers and Red Sox combined for 10 in an 11-9 Detroit loss.