Tigers' offense erupts with Báez, Vierling leading the way in 7-1 win against Twins
Chris McCosky
Minneapolis — Baseball is stupid, as Eric Haase once famously and correctly said.
How else do you explain the manic swing of the Tigers’ offense this month? It defies logic.
They were shut out three times in the first eight games of June. Opposing pitchers were threatening no-hitters almost every night, it felt like. They scored just 14 runs in those games, losing each one.
Then, for no obvious reason, it flipped.
In their last six games, including an improbable 7-1 win over the Minnesota Twins Friday night at Target Field, they’ve scored 38 runs.
"I feel like we're just playing our game, kind of back to how we were earlier in the year," said center fielder Matt Vierling, who blasted 850-feet worth of home runs Friday. "We went through a little skid. But I almost feel like we know how good we can be and we know there is a lot of talent in here and we can really play baseball. We know it's in there.
"We just have to find it. I feel like we're finding it again."
Still, the odds were long against the Tigers going into this one. They were deploying a bullpen game opposite the Twins’ dynamic right-hander Joe Ryan, who had never lost to the Tigers in his young career and allowed just two runs in his four wins against them last season.
Then they went out and scored five times against Ryan in the third inning. Go figure.
"When you get positive at-bats all the way through the order and you get tremendous pitching from the beginning through the entirety of the game and you get some really big two-out hits and knock some balls out of the ballpark -- there's a lot to like when you win a game like that," manager AJ Hinch said.
After an RBI single by Jonathan Schoop and a sacrifice fly by Kerry Carpenter, Javier Báez launched a 1-2 splitter into the left field seats, just inside the foul pole. The three-run homer was his fifth.
Báez certainly has been one of the catalysts of this Tigers’ run explosion. Over the last 10 games, he’s 12-for-39 with a homer, double, triple and seven RBI.
"He played a huge role today," Hinch said. "He came up with the biggest swing of the night against Joe Ryan. It was a big contribution from him. But I think he also thrives on what his teammates are doing, too. He doesn't need to carry the whole workload.
"But when he does, like in the game tonight, it helps us separate and we're a completely different team."
Another catalyst has been Vierling. He smashed two monster home runs − a 428-foot shot in the fourth inning against Ryan. Then he capped the night with a 430-footer against Josh Winder in the ninth. Both off sliders.
"I wasn't just sitting on it," Vierling said. "I was just trying to hit something hard, just looking for a fastball for the most part. But I was able to adjust and hit both of those balls pretty well."
He has seven homers this season. And in the five games since he’s been back off the injured list, Vierling is 9-for-17 with a double and three homers.
"He's freed up and swinging at some good pitches and getting the ball airborne to the seats," Hinch said. "It is great to have him back. He really balances out our lineup."
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Spencer Torkelson has heated up, as well. He doubled Friday and is 9-for-23 with three doubles, two homers and six RBI in his last six games.
"Every night you get someone else who can step up -- that's how you do it," Vierling said. "Hitting and pitching, guys are stepping up on both sides. That's how you piece together wins."
The Tigers, still operating with a four-man starting rotation, used six relievers to cover the nine innings.
After Will Vest breezed through an 11-pitch first inning, things got sticky for Mason Englert.
His velocity was down on his fastball – from 91-92 mph to 88-89 mph – and his secondary pitches seemed flat. It was enough of a concern that Hinch, pitching coach Chris Fetter and athletic trainer Matt Rankin all came out to the mound to check on him in the second inning.
"We're a little bit concerned," Hinch said. "We are in the grind part of the middle of the season for him. He's not going to talk about being fatigued. Hopefully he's not hurt. We will get him checked out. His reactions and mannerisms were what tipped us off that something might be wrong.
"He assured us he wasn't (hurt). That's why we sent him back out."
The five balls the Twins put in play against Englert in the second had an average exit velocity of 102 mph. It was a minor miracle only one run scored – that on an opposite-field home run by Alex Kirilloff.
Englert got bailed out by some faulty base running by Donovan Solano. He went from first to third on a one-out double by Joey Gallo but he rounded third base too far. He was thrown out on a crisp relay from right-fielder Zach McKinstry to Báez to Schoop at third.
Englert, even without his best stuff, gutted his way through the third inning, too. Mostly spinning sliders, he struck out Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton.
"We need to look at him to be sure he's not grunting through something," Hinch said. "It didn't look like the same stuff coming out of his hand. But he still got his outs, which was huge in a bullpen game."
From there, Tyler Holton (1.2 innings) and Brendan Smith (1.1) got the game to the eighth with no damage. Jose Cisnero punched out Edouard Julien and Correa in a clean eighth. Lefty Chasen Shreve finished it off with a clean ninth.
Afterward, the buzz in the clubhouse was more about Baez's wizardry in the field than the home run balls. Specifically, his five-star defensive play to end the sixth inning. Solano hit a hard ground ball in the hole at shortstop. Báez dived quickly to his right, snared the ball and somehow made a strong, accurate throw to first across his body and on one knee.
"I was asked when I see him make a play like that, is it's cool or is it just normal," Vierling said. "It's amazing to me every time he makes a play like that. It surprises your eyes a little bit, watching him do that. Just how quickly he gets rid of the ball and the awareness. It's awesome to see him do stuff like that every night."
White, who had just entered the game and served up the ground ball to Solano, was just as mystified.
"Off the bat, I didn't expect anything," he said. "To see him lay out, then recover and throw from his knee − it was incredible. He's El Mago for a reason."
With these two wins, the Tigers (29-39) are now four losses behind the Central Division-leading Twins (35-35).
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky