DETROIT — A single off the bat of Spencer Torkelson sent the Detroit Tigers sprinting into centre field to celebrate a walk-off win Friday night while Jeff Hoffman made his way back to the visitors’ dugout head down.
Torkelson’s ninth-inning hit gave the Tigers a 3-2 win and provided a gutting moment for a Toronto Blue Jays team that’s had its share of them so far this season. Now 19-25, the Blue Jays fall back to six games below .500, tying a season low.
As well as Trey Yesavage pitched, searching for silver linings after a loss like this feels hollow. Yet as the series was beginning, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch offered some perspective on his underperforming team that applies equally to both of these teams.
“One foot in front of the other,” Hinch said. “At the quarter post, so to speak, they don’t crown division champions. They also shouldn’t eliminate teams. We learned lessons and lessons over the years that it’s a moment in time for everybody to jump to a conclusion that’s probably irrelevant.”
When a team’s losing early, the focus should be on improving day by day, Hinch said. And when a team’s winning early, there are no guarantees, as the Tigers learned first-hand last year by starting 59-34 only to lose the AL Central.
“There’s lessons all over,” Hinch continued. “(But) it’s super hard to stay mentally focused on the obvious, because there’s all this roller-coaster ride of emotions.”
To borrow Hinch’s metaphor, Friday’s ride started with excitement over Yesavage. The outing marked a few significant steps forward for the 22-year-old, and not just because he finally has more regular season innings than post-season innings for his career. Yesavage set season highs with six innings and 88 pitches, important building blocks for what’s ahead.
From a stuff standpoint, Yesavage was where he should be. His fastball sat around 94 m.p.h. while his splitter and slider were both effective, leading to a total of 18 swinging strikes and six strikeouts.
The Tigers made little hard contact on their way to just four hits against Yesavage, the most significant of which was Riley Greene’s game-tying RBI double in the sixth. With that said, the right-hander’s command betrayed him at times as he walked three and threw three wild pitches, one of which scored the Tigers’ first run.
But while the pitching was stellar for the Blue Jays, two other frustrating trends continued. At the plate, the Blue Jays struggled, scoring just two runs on what became a bullpen day for the Tigers after Ty Madden took a line drive off his forearm.
After a hitless night in four trips to the plate, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. continues seeking his first extra-base hit of the month. He chased a slider off the plate to strike out in the first and popped up a 3-0 pitch in the third, snapping his bat on his knee afterwards.
Meanwhile, on defence, Ernie Clement’s uncharacteristic play continued. The typically stellar defender had a chance at a Colt Keith grounder in the first, but it ricocheted away for a single. Later, Clement made a throwing error on a Dillon Dingler single, allowing the catcher to advance on what would eventually be the tying run.
Three innings later, Blue Jays manager John Schneider intentionally walked Zach McKinstry to pitch to Torkelson, who delivered the game-ending hit.
As Hinch said, one win doesn’t solve everything nor does one more loss end the season. The challenge is focusing on the task at hand day after day, a job that requires considerable discipline.
“The methodical nature of baseball just challenges you every day,” he said. “And see where you end up at the end of homestands and road trips and months and seasons.”