Eduardo Valencia didn’t just get his first big-league at-bat Thursday night. He turned it into a memory Detroit will keep for a while.
The Tigers rookie, summoned from Triple-A Toledo earlier in the day to replace the injured Dillon Dingler, came off the bench in the seventh inning and launched a 2-1 fastball from Hogan Harris 425 feet to center field for a solo homer in his first MLB plate appearance. It was his first hit, first RBI, first run and first home run all at once, and it helped push Detroit past the Athletics 4-1 at Comerica Park.
The win completed a sweep of the A’s and gave the Tigers their fifth straight victory and seventh in their last eight games. Detroit improved to 43-50, sitting 3½ games out in the American League wild-card chase and 4½ behind the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central.
Valencia’s blast was the night’s loudest swing, but Detroit got production from some unlikely spots all game long. Jake Rogers, filling in behind the plate for Dingler, opened the scoring with a solo shot in the third inning off Athletics right-hander Jack Perkins. It was Rogers’ third homer of the season and his second in as many days after his two-run blast off the bench Wednesday helped fuel a 6-1 win.
That third-inning drive also stood as the Tigers’ first hit. Detroit didn’t have another baserunner until Rogers, who has three home runs over 142 plate appearances in 2025, started the early power surge.
Zach McKinstry added more support from the lower half of the order, crushing a two-run homer in the fifth to make it 3-1. It was McKinstry’s fourth homer of the year and his seventh hit in five July games.
Still, the night belonged to Valencia. The 26-year-old rookie, in the lineup only because of Dingler’s injury, got a long ovation from the Comerica Park crowd after his homer.
He later reached again in his second plate appearance, taking a 3-0 fastball off the upper left arm to get on base by hit-by-pitch. He finished 1-for-1 and has yet to make an out in his young career.
On the mound, Framber Valdez delivered the kind of outing that lets a team breathe easy. He struck out the side in the first inning, worked a clean second on nine pitches and kept rolling from there.
He didn’t allow a hit until Jacob Wilson led off the fifth with a single, then hit Lawrence Butler to put two runners on. After a flyout from Colby Thomas, Wilson scored when Spencer Torkelson’s play at first didn’t finish the job and Henry Bolte beat the throw, tying the game 1-1.
Valdez never let that inning unravel the rest of his start. He settled back in, finished with a season-high nine strikeouts and ended his night after seven innings with one run allowed on three hits and no walks. He also struck out Bolte in the seventh for his ninth punchout.
Kyle Finnegan handled the eighth, and Kenley Jansen closed it out in the ninth despite allowing the tying run to come to the plate after walking Shea Langeliers and then giving up a one-out single to Wilson.
Detroit now turns to a three-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies, beginning Friday at Comerica Park at 6:40 p.m. Jack Flaherty is set to start for the Tigers against Aaron Nola in the final series before the MLB All-Star Game, which is scheduled for Tuesday in Philadelphia.
In Other News...
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Jordan Yost, the clubs 2025 first-rounder, is already drawing a C+ grade and leaving observers to wonder what Detroit sees in him. Clark remains in Triple-A, where the Tigers want him to keep developing while also preserving his PPI eligibility for 2027, even as the big-league temptation grows louder. And with the 2026 MLB Draft approaching, Detroit will have four picks after forfeiting its third-round selection by signing Framber Valdez, a reminder that the pipeline is still being shaped not just by who the Tigers choose, but by the roster decisions that come before the draft board ever turns. [Read more 🡒]
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Tigers Are Rolling And This Phillies Win Changed The Feeling Fast
The Tigers wasted no time turning a tight game into a loud one Friday night at Comerica Park, burying the Phillies 10-2 in the opener of a three-game series. Detroits offense broke through in a big sixth inning, then kept stacking on runs in the seventh, with Eduardo Valencia, Zach McKinstry, James Outman, Colt Keith and Spencer Torkelson all part of the surge that changed the tone fast.
Jack Flaherty helped set the stage by giving Detroit six innings and allowing two runs, giving the club another steady start to lean on as the lineup came alive behind him. The bigger question now is whether this was just one of those nights where everything clicked, or another sign that the Tigers are starting to look a lot more dangerous when a game gets into the middle innings. [Read more 🡒]