CINCINNATI -- Spencer Torkelson began the week as a sub-.200 hitter without a home run for the season but with belief that the results would eventually match the metrics, and with a manager saying they wouldn’t abandon him. He ended the week in the Tigers’ record books
For the fifth consecutive game, Torkelson homered, this time a drive to left-center off a right-handed reliever brought in specifically to keep him from trotting around the bases. It provided an insurance run in the Tigers’ 8-3 win, but it powered Torkelson into elite company in Tigers history.
Torkelson’s five-game home run streak ties the franchise record, joining him with Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg, Rudy York, Vic Wertz, Willie Horton and Marcus Thames. It also ties White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami for the longest streak in the Majors this season. The all-time MLB record is eight straight games with a homer, done by three players -- Ken Griffey Jr., Don Mattingly and Dale Long.
“Legends,” Torkelson said.
Torkelson will head to Atlanta on Tuesday for the start of a three-game series against the Braves with a chance to not only set a new Tigers record, but become the first MLB player with a six-game homer streak since Rafael Devers in 2024.
“Just seeing the ball well, and just proud of the way I've stuck with my plan and my approach, and putting my A-swing on a lot of pitches,” Torkelson said.
Torkelson has heated up this week by destroying fastballs over the plate. He had been hitting them hard for much of the season but with little to show for it until he sent a heater from Milwaukee’s Chad Patrick over the left-field fence at Comerica Park on Wednesday. The homer that finally put Torkelson on the board for 2026 set him loose for what has become a daily ritual.
Torkelson hit his first career walkoff homer the next day off a 99.2 mph fastball from Abner Uribe. He crushed a rising fastball from previously scoreless Reds reliever Tony Santillan and sent it into Great American Ball Park’s left-field upper deck Friday night, igniting a go-ahead rally in the eighth inning. He went oppo with Brady Singer’s hanging sinker on Saturday for a solo homer to right-center, becoming the first Tiger to homer in four consecutive games since Ian Kinsler in 2016.
“He hit a home run coming in, and you kind of always put a little asterisk by the guy that’s maybe not where he’s at,” said Reds manager Terry Francona, who had to game plan against Torkelson as a division rival for two seasons managing the Guardians. “You hear me say all the time that guys are going to get to their level. And a couple of swings, he just kept his hands in so well and got the barrel to it because he’s so strong.”
From that point, the Reds seemed determined to limit Torkelson’s fastball opportunities, feeding him a steady diet of breaking pitches and offspeed. He still crushed a Brock Burke changeup over center fielder TJ Friedl’s head for a double in Sunday’s sixth inning.
From that point, the Reds seemed determined to limit Torkelson’s fastball opportunities, feeding him a steady diet of breaking pitches and offspeed. He still crushed a Brock Burke changeup over center fielder TJ Friedl’s head for a double in Sunday’s sixth inning.
“That’s the way I developed my approach, being able to hit the fastball to the big part of the yard hard, and being able to stay back on the offspeed pitches and keep those fair and hit those hard as well,” Torkelson said. “When my approach is right, I feel like I can hit everything without really trying to hit everything.”
No surprise, then, that Francona replaced lefty reliever Sam Moll with right-hander Pierce Johnson as Torkelson stepped to the plate in the seventh inning following Hao-Yu Lee’s go-ahead pinch-hit homer. Johnson throws curveballs for 72 percent of his pitches, but he offered Torkelson two fastballs over the plate, with a curveball in the dirt in between. Torkelson fouled off the first, but after laying off the curveball, he pummeled the 1-1 heater, sending it a Statcast-estimated 421-foot drive to left-center.
“I'm seeing the ball pretty well right now, so I don't want to care too much about what he's doing,” Torkelson said. “I want to stick with my approach and stay on the fastball. And if he hangs a breaking ball, trust that I'll keep it fair. I didn't change much.”
Before the home-run streak, Torkelson was 9-for-40 against fastballs with a .275 slugging percentage and just two extra-base hits, both doubles. During the streak, he’s 5-for-12 against fastballs and slugging 1.667.
“It’s awesome to watch,” said Riley Greene, Torkelson’s teammate and best friend since Double-A Erie in 2021. “It starts in the cage for us, because we watch each other’s work. The work he puts in the cage, you see it on the field. It’s awesome to see.”
Torkelson hadn’t homered in more than two consecutive games in his pro career until this stretch. He homered in four straight games as a sophomore at Arizona State. He hit 54 home runs over three college seasons, but never five games in a row.
“It feels a little different, doing it at a much higher level,” Torkelson said. “But it feels pretty good, yeah.”