CLEVELAND - The Tigers built a six-run cushion and still left Progressive Field with a loss.
After scoring four times with two outs in the first inning, Detroit added to the lead with Spencer Torkelson’s opposite-field home run in the third and kept things in control behind Keider Montero. But the Guardians erased all of it in a hurry, scoring five runs in the fourth and then winning 7-6 on Brayan Rocchio’s walk-off homer in the ninth in the opener of a doubleheader Friday.
The game was delayed 64 minutes by storms before first pitch.
Detroit’s early burst came against left-hander Logan Allen, with rookies Ben Malgeri and Max Clark each delivering two-run singles. Clark finished with three singles, two RBI and a stolen base, a sharp follow-up to his three doubles Wednesday. Torkelson’s homer was his second in two games, his 22nd of the season and just his third to right field all year.
That 6-1 lead looked comfortable, but Montero didn’t have his changeup working the way he wanted, and that mattered against a Cleveland lineup that featured eight left-handed hitters. The pitch is his best answer to lefties, and he used it 21% of the time against them coming in, with strong results: .130/.180/.217. On Friday, though, he couldn’t lean on it.
Montero survived the first three innings by mixing in his sinker, slider and knuckle-curve, but the fourth unraveled. Angel Genao doubled on a slider, Travis Bazzana followed with a single on one of the few changeups Montero managed to throw in the zone, and then Brayan Rocchio crushed a knuckle-curve into the right-field seats for a grand slam.
Montero struck out Jo Adell, but the damage was already done. In four innings, he threw 10 changeups and only two were in the strike zone, and Cleveland wasn’t chasing.
The Tigers’ bullpen held things together for a while after that. Tyler Holton worked two innings, and Tyler Kinley followed with zeros from the fifth through the seventh. Detroit also got two huge defensive plays in the seventh to keep the game tied.
With Chase DeLauter on second and one out, Jo Adell hit a grounder to the left of Javier Baez at short. DeLauter broke for third, Baez fired there anyway, and Kevin McGonigle handled the short hop and applied the tag.
On the next batter, Nathanial Lowe lined a sinking ball to center, and Clark came charging in to make a sliding catch. Cleveland challenged, and after a lengthy review, the ruling stood.
Still, the Tigers couldn’t finish it. Rocchio ended it with his first pitch from Drew Sommers, sending it into the left-field bleachers for Detroit’s 40th loss this season after having a lead.
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