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 and changeups Wandy Peralta tried to get past him.
One pitch after another, the 34-year-old 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.
“Oh, it's just the first single celebration we have on the team,” he said.
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.
"I'm proud of him because he's staying in the moment,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “The moment's not too big. I've said that for six weeks. He's just continuing to compete. I think for him it's the same game, but for all of us watching him, we're super impressed.”
The Padres had the situation all set up. The lefty Peralta was warming for most of the eighth inning while standout 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, who had given up McGonigle’s fourth hit on Thursday. That was just a three-pitch at-bat, culminating in an inside sinker that McGonigle fought into right-center. But with Peralta throwing all three pitches in his arsenal, it was enough for McGonigle to put in his memory bank.
"Knew he was going to come in against me,” McGonigle said. “I saw every pitch he had [Thursday], which helped me out. He throws left-on-left changeups a good bit. I knew I had to put a good at-bat together to help this team today, and thankfully I did.”
Sure enough, the first pitch was a changeup on the inside edge that McGonigle fouled off. He stayed away from the high sinker and the changeup in the dirt to get a 2-1 count, but Peralta pounded him inside from there.
McGonigle fouled off the 96.8 mph sinker on his hands, then golfed away the changeup down and in. He’d had trouble against some changeups in Spring Training but adjusted by changing his sights against fastballs.
He fouled off two more sinkers inside, one off plate umpire Lance Barrett’s mask, the other down the right-field line.
"The whole time I was just locked in, committed to my plan,” McGonigle said. “Just go up and go to war. That was my mindset that whole at-bat.”
Peralta thought he’d set up the rookie for a slider well off the outside corner, but McGonigle fouled that off, too -- barely, much to Peralta’s frustration.
"I gave it everything I could in that at-bat,” Peralta said through translator Jorge Merlos. “He was fouling off a lot of pitches there.”
Asked how he got to that slider, McGonigle shrugged.
“I don't know,” he said. “Just when I'm in that kind of mode, I just get on the front half and just try to foul every tough pitch off. I got a bat on that pitch and luckily fouled it off.”
Once 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.
"It was just that one pitch I left over the plate that he was able to get good contact on,” Peralta said. “I just give him a lot of credit on that at-bat. I tried to do everything I could. Just give him all the credit.”
As the ball hit the grass, McGonigle said, “I kinda blacked out a little bit. It was a big spot, was able to get the job done and just celebrate with the guys.”