SAN DIEGO -- Kevin McGonigle was denied his first Major League home run by a leaping grab from Jackson Merrill. He could not be denied the last laugh, no matter how many inside sinkers Wandy Peralta tried to get past him.
One pitch after another, Peralta -- brought in to force the lefty-lefty matchup in a tie game in the eighth inning -- tried to remind McGonigle he is a 21-year-old playing in his second Major League game. One foul ball after another, McGonigle kept the battle going, waiting for a pitch he could handle. On the 10th pitch of the at-bat, McGonigle got it. And as he rounded first base on his go-ahead single into right field, he waved his hand over his mouth to signal to the dugout.
It was his lone hit of Friday’s 5-2 Tigers win, one day after his historic four-hit debut. It wasn’t even his best ball in play; that was the 403-foot drive to center that Merrill brought back. But what a hit it was.
The Padres had the situation all set up. Peralta was warming for most of the eighth inning while right-handed setup man Jeremiah Estrada walked the bases loaded with one out, including passes to left-handed hitters Kerry Carpenter and Colt Keith. Riley Greene, who spent all Spring Training focused on plate discipline and contact, was rewarded for a ball in play with a slow grounder to the left of second base that left shortstop Xander Bogaerts with no play, bringing in Carpenter to tie the game.
Estrada’s strikeout of Spencer Torkelson brought on Peralta to face McGonigle, and the battle began.
Peralta kept pounding McGonigle with sinkers and changeups on his hands; McGonigle kept sending them into foul territory down the first-base line, including the 2-2 changeup that was headed for the dirt. Peralta thought he’d set up the rookie for a slider well off the outside corner, but McGonigle fouled that off, too.
McGonigle laid off Peralta’s ensuing changeup in the dirt, loading the count with nowhere for Peralta to put him. Peralta fired a 95.9 mph sinker over the plate, and McGonigle lined it into right for Detroit’s first lead of the night. Dillon Dingler put Peralta’s next pitch in nearly the same place for an add-on run and the final margin.