The Tigers didn’t need a pitching duel to open the series against Colorado. They went hunting for the big swing instead.
Detroit beat the Rockies, 6-2, on Friday, Sept. 11 at Comerica Park behind home runs from Dillon Dingler and Max Clark, plus a big night from Riley Greene. The Tigers moved to 68-79, still alive mathematically in the playoff race but sitting with less than 1% odds to reach the postseason.
Greene set the tone in the sixth. With two outs, he ripped a two-out RBI stand-up triple that bounced off the wall in center field and brought home Gleyber Torres from first base, putting Detroit in front.
It was Greene’s second hit of the night on his way to three, and he finished one homer shy of the cycle. He now leads all Tigers in multi-hit games in 2026 with 38.
Then Dingler took over. His two-run homer in the sixth pushed the Tigers to a 4-1 lead and gave him his 27th home run and 87th RBI of the season. Both marks lead the team.
Clark added his own jolt in the fifth with a one-out solo shot off Rockies rookie Mason Adams, tying the game at 1-1. It was Clark’s third home run of the season, and Detroit briefly had a chance to seize the lead after that when John Peck and Zach McKinstry drew walks. Javier Báez, though, ended the inning by grounding into a 6-4-3 double play.
The Tigers’ late burst kept coming. Clark reached on a hit by pitch in the sixth, stole second, then moved to third and scored on two wild pitches to make it 5-1. Greene added one more RBI in the eighth with a double that scored Spencer Torkelson from first base and capped Detroit’s scoring.
Framber Valdez gave the Tigers exactly what they needed on the mound: another quality start. He worked six innings, allowed one unearned run, gave up six hits, walked two and struck out two. It was his 16th quality start of the season.
Valdez had to survive a messy fifth inning, and he did it with some help from his battery mate. After the Rockies loaded the bases with three hits and six baserunners in the frame, Dingler cut down two runners at the plate.
The first came on a safety squeeze by Ezequiel Tovar, when Valdez fielded the ball and flipped to Dingler for the out at home. The second was a sharp relay from Zach McKinstry in right, who threw out Jordan Beck at the plate for Dingler’s second tag of the inning.
McKinstry’s assist was his eighth of the season, tops among Tigers outfielders.
Colorado finally scored in that inning when a ball booted off Kevin McGonigle’s glove, allowing Tovar to come home. That was the Rockies’ only run of the inning despite all the traffic.
Valdez also opened the game by allowing an infield single to Jake McCarthy, then got Hunter Goodman to ground into a double play to escape the first. He finished with 90 pitches and likely would have had a shot at the seventh if Detroit hadn’t broken the game open.
The bullpen handled the rest. Jacob Waguespack threw a clean seventh and a scoreless eighth, then Brant Hurter and Kenley Jansen finished it off in the ninth. Jansen came in with two outs and two on in a four-run game and locked down save No. 19 of the season and No. 495 of his career, leaving him five shy of becoming the third pitcher in MLB history to reach 500.
Detroit’s win trimmed the gap to the third and final American League wild-card spot to six games, with the Cleveland Guardians occupying that position after playing late Friday.
The Tigers and Rockies meet again Saturday at Comerica Park at 1:10 p.m. Detroit SportsNet.
Colorado is set to start Tanner Gordon (1-4, 5.40 ERA), while Detroit has not announced its starter yet. With the roster situation around Keider Montero’s baby watch, the Tigers are likely to call up rookie lefty Andrew Sears and use him in at least a bulk role, if not as the starter.
In Other News...
Tigers May Have Found A Surprise Arm In The Casey Mize Deal
The Casey Mize trade was always going to be measured by the big-league arms and names at the top, but Jackson Wolf has quietly made it worth a closer look for Detroit. Since joining the Tigers organization, the left-hander has turned in a sharp stretch of work, putting together a 1.63 ERA with 35 strikeouts in 27 2/3 innings across six appearances, a notable bounce from the rougher version the Tigers got in the deal.
Wolf was hardly a headline prospect when Detroit acquired him. He had been struggling in Triple-A El Paso with a 7.05 ERA and wasnt ranked in the Padres pipeline, which is part of what makes this early turnaround interesting for a Tigers team always looking for usable pitching depth. Whether this becomes a real role for Wolf in Detroit is still to be determined, but his recent form has given the front office an unexpected arm to keep tracking. [Read more 🡒]
Tigers Suddenly Face A Wenceel Perez Problem They Can't Ignore
Wenceel Prezs season has hit an unexpected stop at exactly the wrong time for Detroit, with an orbital bone injury from a postgame workout ending his year and knocking him out of baseball activities for now. He is still rehabbing, but the Tigers have been left to sort through a roster picture that already has other moving parts, including Keider Montero headed for the paternity list.
Jack Flaherty is lined up for a simulated game and could be activated soon, while Justin Verlander is set to throw off a mound without facing hitters, so the pitching side keeps inching forward. Even so, Prezs absence lingers as a separate concern because the injury removes an outfield option the club had been counting on, and the longer he stays away from baseball work, the harder it is for Detroit to know what comes next. [Read more 🡒]
Justin Verlander Just Took A Step Tigers Fans Have Been Waiting On
Justin Verlanders rehab took a noticeable turn at Comerica Park, where the veteran right-hander threw off the mound against simulated batters as he continues working back from a hamstring injury. The session was a welcome checkpoint for the Tigers, who have been waiting to see how his body responds after the setback, and the early read was encouraging with his velocity and intensity both standing out.
Detroit still has not put a specific return date on Verlander, but the club remains hopeful he can make a late-season appearance if the ramp-up keeps trending in the right direction. Jack Flaherty also took part in a simulated game as he works his way back from right flexor tendon inflammation, giving the Tigers two important rehab watch points as they try to sort out the final stretch of the season. [Read more 🡒]