PITTSBURGH -- The last time Drew Sommers saw the Pirates, he was pitching in the Tigers’ Spring Breakout game five months ago. Even though he pitched briefly in the Majors last year, he was still considered a prospect for a showcase of Detroit’s future talent.
For many Tigers from that game, the future is now, as they play a part in keeping their postseason hopes alive. And as Sommers broke off the mound in the eighth inning at PNC Park Monday night, the furthest he wanted to look ahead was to first base.
Sommers had bolted from the mound immediately, before Spencer Torkelson made an acrobatic play to field Jake Mangum’s chopper midway between first and second. All Sommers had to do was track Torkelson’s throw and find first base with his feet, all while hearing the sound of Mangum’s fast footsteps over his shoulder, bolting down the line at an elite sprint speed of 30.9 feet per second.
“I saw Tork get that ball and knew he had to chuck it,” Sommers said after Detroit's 8-5 win. “I'm hearing [Mangum] coming behind me pretty quick, so first thing was just catch the ball, get to the bag next. Thankfully I was just a little bit faster than him.
“I just slammed my foot as quick as I can. I saw the bag and just put my foot to it as quick as I could.”
When first-base umpire John Tumpane initially called Mangum safe, Sommers thought he’d be dealing with a leadoff baserunner. Even watching the replay on PNC Park’s giant video board during manager A.J. Hinch’s challenge, Sommers couldn’t tell.
“I thought it was going to be a tie and he was going to get the safe call,” Sommers said. “I didn't think I had it on my side at all. It was hard [to tell].”
The reversal and the out call gave Sommers a boost. So did the break to catch his breath and gather himself, he joked. He got five whiffs combined in strikeouts of Nick Yorke and Henry Davis to finish a clean inning and hand a lead to closer Kenley Jansen.
The win brought the Tigers (61-64) even with the Orioles, who lost Monday at Tampa Bay, and idle Texas for the third and final AL Wild Card spot, with three other teams within a game. Just as big, it put the sting of last weekend’s series sweep to the White Sox behind them.
Sommers not only got five outs, he got the biggest outs of the game with what had been a seven-run Tigers lead on the verge of vanishing. Sommers entered in the seventh with the potential tying run at the plate. He finished with three strikeouts, no baserunners and his latest evidence to be part of Hinch’s circle of trust in the Tigers' bullpen.
“He did an incredible job competing,” Hinch said.
This has been the story of Sommers’, well, summer. Since taking the 12-inning loss July 29 against the Orioles, a game in which the Tigers blew a seven-run lead, Sommers has allowed two runs (one earned) on five hits over nine innings with 16 strikeouts across seven appearances. His four-seamer and sinker are both averaging 95.3 miles per hour in August, the highest velocity of his career, according to Statcast. Opponents are pounding his sinker and slider into the ground, with average launch angles of minus-20 and minus-17 degrees, respectively, during that span.
“I didn't realize I could get my four-seam and all my pitches by so many guys,” Sommers admitted. “If it's luck or skill, I don't know yet. But I'm thankful for what I'm doing. I'm feeling pretty good.”
Sommers isn’t the only Spring Breakout alumnus keeping the Tigers’ season going. Top prospect Max Clark robbed Mangum of an RBI extra-base hit in the second inning with a racing catch and crash into the center-field fence. Brett Callahan, who debuted on Sunday with a two-run triple on his first Major League pitch, followed Hao-Yu Lee’s bases-loaded walk in the sixth with two more RBIs on a line-drive single to center.
Kevin McGonigle, who was eligible for Spring Breakout but was competing for an Opening Day roster spot all spring, crushed a Statcast-projected 405-foot home run to the back of the concourse in right-center and nearly into the Allegheny River for a 4-0 lead. Lee, who missed Spring Breakout with a left oblique injury, reached base safely five times and drove in two runs.
Add catcher Eduardo Valencia, who will play later this series, and the Tigers aren’t just mixing in young talent, they’re leaning on it. Between injuries and issues, they have little choice. It’s working.
“I think everyone coming up has that same mindset: They want to help the team win,” McGonigle said.