SAN FRANCISCO – The Tigers will look a mite different Tuesday when they return to Comerica Park for the first time since July 29. When they departed for their only three-city trip of 2026, Tarik Skubal was still on the team, Jackson Jobe had another Minor League rehab start on tap and center fielder Max Clark just heard the news he would be in The Show two days later.
One thing has not changed. The Tigers remain in the hunt in the tightly bunched American League Central and Wild Card races. They bettered their positions in both with a 7-2 trip to the West Coast that ended with Sunday’s 3-1, 10-inning victory against the Giants.
The Tigers started the trip six games behind the first-place White Sox in the Central. The win pushed them within three games of Chicago (pending the result of the White Sox game against the Guardians) despite still being two games below .500.
Hao-Yu Lee, pinch-hitting against left-hander Sam Hentges, broke a 1-1 tie in the 10th when he punched a single over first base to score automatic runner Riley Greene. Spencer Torkelson’s single sent Lee to third, allowing Lee to score on a fielder’s choice.
The Detroit pitching staff authored four shutouts on the trip while allowing a total of 17 runs in the nine games, which has to qualify as a statement in the wake of the Skubal and Casey Mize trades.
Troy Melton engaged Giants ace Logan Webb in quite a duel. Each allowed just one run, Webb in eight innings and Melton in six-plus. Neither got a decision.
Detroit’s run against Webb scored on a Gleyber Torres double-play grounder in the sixth after singles by Zach McKinstry and Kevin McGonigle. Drew Gilbert produced the Giants’ run in the seventh with an infield hit off reliever Kyle Finnegan.
Kenley Jansen struck out the side in the ninth to send the game into extra innings, but only after Drew Sommers saved the Tigers in the eighth when the Giants loaded the bases with one out. Sommers got Rafael Devers to end the inning with a double play.
Early in the game, Giants fans gave Justin Verlander a standing ovation when the PA announcer acknowledged his final visit to San Francisco. Verlander, leaning on the dugout rail, doffed his cap.
On the mound, Melton was attempting a feat no Detroit pitcher had accomplished since Verlander was a rookie in 2006: three consecutive starts of at least seven innings while surrendering three or fewer hits. Melton fell short on both counts.
He allowed his fourth hit, a Devers fly-ball single, to start the seventh, which prompted manager A.J. Hinch to remove him after 92 pitches. The hit turned into a run on Gilbert’s one-out RBI infield single, a slow roller that third baseman Colt Keith bobbled as he tried to hurry a throw home.
An Eduardo Valencia throwing error on Osleivis Basabe’s stolen base made the run unearned.