The baseball gods smiled down on the Tigers on Sunday afternoon following the squad’s gloomy pair of outings to open its road series against Miami. Despite the slow start in the finale, Detroit bounced back to close the series with a 2-0 victory.
The Tigers got 76 pitches in five innings from reliever Keider Montero, who gave them a starter’s workload in what was supposed to be a bullpen game. Montero finished with five strikeouts and allowed three hits in five scoreless frames.
José Urquidy — in his first MLB appearance since Oct. 23, 2023 — came on to record four outs before Tommy Kahnle took over in the seventh and carried the load through the eighth. After hurling two scoreless innings in Saturday’s loss, Will Vest came on to pitch the ninth, allowing a one-out single and a walk before notching back-to-back outs and seal the win.
The wackiness ensued back in the second inning, and it accounted for Detroit’s lone offense. It began when Colt Keith slapped a grounder to Eric Wagaman at first, and Wagaman couldn’t handle it. The ball trickled past him and just past the first-base dugout, where second baseman Maximo Acosta rushed over to grab it.
Acosta fired to third base to put out Spencer Torkelson, who was trying to go from first to third. But Acosta’s throw was errant, jetting past Javier Sanoja and bouncing into left field. Troy Johnston then fumbled a barehanded attempt to field it, allowing Torkelson to score from first.
Dillon Dingler singled up the middle one pitch later to score Keith.
