The Detroit Tigers got a clear look at two kinds of future on Monday night: a new ballpark name coming in 2027, and a new arm arriving right now.
Before the first pitch at Comerica Park, the club announced that its home will be known as Fifth Third Field beginning in 2027. Then River Ryan took the mound for his first Tigers start and gave Detroit exactly the kind of short, efficient debut the team had in mind.
Ryan worked three scoreless innings, struck out three and handed things off to Keider Montero, who covered four more scoreless frames in a 9-2 win over the Washington Nationals. Yohandy Morales broke up the shutout with a home run off left-hander Drew Sommers in the eighth, the Nationals’ only scoring play of the night.
Ryan, one of the three prospects acquired in August in the Tarik Skubal trade, picked up his first win as a Tiger with plenty of help from the lineup. Rookies Hao-Yu Lee and Eduardo Valencia drove in runs in the first inning, Javier Báez and Spencer Torkelson each launched two-run homers, and Ben Malgeri put the game out of reach with a three-run shot in the fifth.
The Tigers, now 74-83 and out of the playoff race, have five games left in the 2026 season.
Ryan’s debut came in his first major league appearance since 2024, when he went 1-0 with a 1.33 ERA in four starts with LA, giving up three runs while striking out 18 in 20⅓ innings.
He wasted no time showing what he brought to Detroit. On his first batter, he got All-Star left fielder James Wood swinging through a 92 mph changeup below the zone. Ryan needed just 14 pitches to get through the opening inning, retiring the top of Washington’s order in order.
The second inning brought the first bit of trouble. Dylan Crews opened with a single, and Ryan followed that with a four-pitch walk to the next hitter. He still escaped cleanly, finishing the frame with a strikeout and a fly out.
Jacob Young doubled to start the third, but Ryan settled back in and retired the next three Nationals. Wood went down again on a changeup to end the outing without allowing a run. Detroit had planned for a short start, given Ryan’s limited workload with Triple-A Toledo.
He faced 12 Nationals and threw 26 of his 43 pitches for strikes. Ryan generated six whiffs, three of them on the changeup, and mixed in six different pitches overall. His four-seam fastball was the pitch he used most often, averaging 96.5 mph.
“For him, if we see him be himself and feature his stuff, get us some outs - whether it is one time through the order or more - that would be an ideal setup given the journey he's been on this year to get himself healthy," Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said before the start.
Montero did the rest, striking out five, walking one and allowing no hits over four innings.
Detroit gave Ryan breathing room right away. Gleyber Torres drew a walk to open the game, moved to second on a wild pitch, and scored on Lee’s ground-rule double. Valencia followed with an RBI single to left that brought Lee home.
Báez made it 4-0 with a 426-foot homer in the fourth, his third of the season. Then the fifth inning blew the game open. Malgeri lifted a hanging splitter over the left-field wall, and Torkelson turned on an inside 98.6 mph fastball for his 25th homer, pushing Detroit’s lead to nine.
Malgeri finished 2-for-4 with a double, a home run and a diving catch in right field behind Ryan in the first. Valencia had three hits, including two doubles, in four at-bats.
The Tigers and Nationals will meet again Tuesday in the next-to-last night game of Comerica Park’s current era, with first pitch set for 6:40 p.m. on Detroit SportsNet. Detroit will send Drew Anderson (5-6, 3.62 ERA), while Washington is slated to start Jackson Kent (1-4, 6.40).
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