SEATTLE -- Like a lot of teams these days, the Mariners have a locally-themed mascot race during a between-innings break at T-Mobile Park. The Salmon Run features four mascots representing different species of salmon, racing from right-center field around the right-field corner and ending just before the home dugout. They often follow a common theme -- one mascot racing out to a big lead, another charging in late, then a mad dash for the finish line, possibly including hijinks.
The Tigers do not have a mascot race at home, but they’ve seen enough of these. They’ve had a few hot streaks this summer to make you believe they were charging into the playoff chase, only to sputter. This feels different.
It’s not just that the Tigers left town only a game out of the final AL Wild Card spot, now occupied by Texas. It’s how the Tigers have gotten here.
They had every excuse to trip up Thursday, from a tough loss Wednesday night to a potential distraction from the dueling hit-by-pitches and clearing benches from the later innings that night, to an opposing starter who had owned them in the regular season for four years.
Instead, the Tigers picked up where they had left off from Tuesday, putting up three first-inning runs on Bryce Miller and cruising to an 11-0 victory in the rubber match of their three-game series and AL Division Series rematch.
“It was a good win and a good series win,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “There's always energy in this ballpark. That team [was] coming off an emotional win. We came out today and silenced it with a really good first inning. I can't overstate that.”
The Tigers are now one behind the Yankees in run differential for the season, a mathematical feat for a team three games under .500.
“We’re crushing fastballs. We’re getting to guys early. We’re trying to do damage,” Colt Keith said of the offensive end. “Me, personally, and some other guys, I remember seeing more passive, late on the fastball [early in the season]. Now we’re on it, and we’re adjusting to the other stuff offensively, and we’re able to put up numbers.”
The Tigers are 5-1 through two stops of their three-city, nine-game West Coast trip, scoring eight or more runs in all five wins, with three games in San Francisco this weekend. They’ve won six consecutive road series for the first time since 1988. Their schedule gets friendlier travelwise after this trip, with a flight to Kansas City as their longest trek the rest of the regular season.
In that respect, they’ve flipped the script from the team that lost eight consecutive road games early in the season, went 2-13 away from Detroit in May and didn’t win a road series from their season-opening set in San Diego until a sweep of the Rays in June.
“Well, there wasn’t a part where we didn’t struggle in May,” Hinch said of their 6-22 month. But we’ve collected ourselves. No matter where we play, we feel really, really good about our chances to win.”
Not only did the Tigers’ latest road win gain some measure of revenge against their ALDS rivals, but it also came at the expense of a nemesis. Miller hadn’t allowed a run against the Tigers in 25 innings over four career regular-season meetings, though the Tigers got him for two runs in Game 4 of the ALDS. Dillon Dingler put Detroit in front Thursday, three batters in, with his second two-run homer in as many days, before Riley Greene and Keith hit back-to-back doubles.
“That's a good pitcher that's gotten to us in the past,” Keith said. “We took advantage of him not having command of the splitter. I feel like we didn't chase it, and he was missing in, he was missing up with it in the zone. We were able to take advantage of that.”
The Tigers taxed Miller for 40 pitches in the opening inning. Dingler got him again in the second with a two-out RBI single, improving to .358 (19-for-53) with two outs and runners in scoring position. Miller retired his final 10 batters in order, but Framber Valdez already had the cushion he needed to cruise.
Valdez, thrust into a more prominent role in Detroit’s rotation with Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize traded and the bullpen thin, didn’t allow a hit until the third inning and didn’t face a runner in scoring position until the sixth. He needed just 95 pitches (60 strikes) in seven strong innings, one pitch fewer than he used for seven innings to open the road trip last Friday against the Athletics.
The result was another empathic and complete win for a team focused on the task.
“I think we're just putting our head down and going out and playing,” Keith said. “We're just playing good ball.”