SAN FRANCISCO - The Detroit Tigers wrapped up their nine-game West Coast trip with the kind of game that had just about everything packed into it: errors, a clutch double play, extra innings, a pinch-hit flare from Hao-Yu-Lee that helped push across the go-ahead run, and, tucked underneath it all, a sharp pitcher’s duel.
In the end, the story was the bullpen. That group has taken its lumps all season, and for good reason, but Sunday at Oracle Park it delivered exactly what the Tigers needed.
The relief corps covered nearly four scoreless innings and kept the game in reach long enough for Detroit to finish the job in a 3-1 extra-inning win over the Giants on Sunday, Aug. 9.
The result gave the Tigers seven straight road series wins, a franchise record, and capped a 7-2 trip. Detroit is now two games below .500 and returns home for a stretch that starts with two big series against Cleveland and Chicago.
For most of the afternoon, though, it looked like the Tigers were headed the other direction. Logan Webb had them bottled up, and former Tigers reliever Dylan Smith did his part too, striking out the side in the ninth, Dillon Dingler included.
Webb worked eight innings and allowed just one run. Troy Melton matched him with six scoreless frames, though it was not effortless.
He needed 92 pitches, and after a fielding error put the leadoff man on in the seventh, A.J. Hinch went to Kyle Finnegan.
Finnegan was a touch cleaner, but the inning still got away from Detroit after the miscues. The Giants scratched out a run off Tigers mistakes, and the game stayed tied until the offense finally broke through in the 10th.
The Tigers’ defense had already saved a run in a huge spot earlier. With the Giants threatening in the fourth, Willy Adames singled and Rafael Devers followed with another hit to put runners at the corners and nobody out. Melton then struck out Osleivis Basabe, and what happened next turned into one of the biggest plays of the game.
Drew Gilbert, who had already singled off Melton, came up with Adames and Zack McKinstry involved in the play. Gilbert fell behind 1-2, then lined a cutter into right field.
McKinstry tracked it down, set his feet, and fired home. Eduardo Valencia handled the throw and tagged Adames right before he could slide in.
Two outs, and the inning was over.
Detroit’s bats were mostly quiet early. Spencer Torkelson’s second-inning single was about all the Tigers had going for a while as Webb mixed his sinker, sweeper, cutter and changeup effectively and kept hitters rolling over pitches.
The breakthrough came in the sixth. McKinstry singled - again, who else? - and moved to third on a hit-and-run when Kevin McGonigle poked a single just past Rafael Devers at first. Gleyber Torres then grounded into a double play, but McKinstry scored to give Detroit a 1-0 lead.
The Giants answered in the seventh, and the inning was a mess for the Tigers. It started when Colt Keith and Riley Greene got crossed up on a shallow fly to right, allowing the ball to fall in.
Eduardo Valencia then threw wildly to second while trying to catch Osleivis Basabe stealing, and Basabe advanced to third on the overthrow. Keith then charged a soft hopper and tried to barehand it with the run in mind, but couldn’t finish the play.
Three bad plays in one inning cost Detroit the lead.
Still, the bullpen kept the game alive. Finnegan got two outs in the seventh.
Drew Sommers entered and escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the eighth by inducing a grounder up the middle that turned into a double play. Kenley Jansen, back on the mound for the first time since Aug. 1 in West Sacramento, struck out the side in the ninth and got all three swinging.
Tyler Holton then retired the side in order in the 10th.
That set the stage for Detroit to finish it at the plate, and the Tigers cashed in with two runs in the 10th to close out the win.
Now comes the next test. The Tigers open a series Tuesday, Aug. 11, against the Cleveland Guardians, the top team in the AL Central. Then the Chicago White Sox come to town Friday, Aug. 14, for a three-game weekend set.
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