The Guardians gave Tigers fans another reason to smile Tuesday night, and this one came with a little extra embarrassment attached.
Cleveland rookie Cooper Ingle, the No. 3 prospect who was just called up on June 26, turned an ordinary fly ball into a full-blown mess in the top of the seventh inning. With one out and a runner on second, Ingle settled under an Alejandro Osuna fly ball in left field, made the catch, and then apparently lost track of the situation. He fired the ball into the stands with only two outs in the inning, and Ezequiel Duran came all the way around from second to score the go-ahead run.
The moment was messy enough that you could hear Guardians players or coaches shouting “No!” as Ingle released the ball.
That was bad enough on its own, but the night only got rougher from there. Ingle went hitless in his next two trips to the plate and ended up making the final out of the game.
For Detroit fans, it was just the latest Cleveland miscue to laugh at after a strange week around the Guardians. On Sunday, longtime favorite Josh Naylor was at the center of a screaming match with Austin Hedges after intentionally leaning into a pitch to reach base. Tigers fans know that kind of thing all too well, and Colt Keith summed up the feeling pretty cleanly: "You like him if you're his teammate, and you hate him if you're the other team."
The off-field noise has lined up with a rough stretch on the scoreboard for Cleveland, too. The Guardians went 10-15 in June, while the Tigers finished 15-11. That wasn’t enough to make a major dent in the standings, but Detroit now owns the better run differential, and that could matter down the line.
There’s still reason for Tigers fans to keep one eye on the bigger picture. Detroit’s postseason odds are better now than they were heading into July 2024, and the club’s 49 home runs in June tied for the most in any single month in franchise history.
Still, on a night like this, the headline belonged to Cleveland’s rookie and a throw that never should have left his hand. The Guardians, quite literally, handed one away.
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