The Detroit Tigers were back at “home” Thursday to battle the New York Mets in the final televised spring training game before the regular season starts next week. Early offense with sporadic pitching dominance was the story of the game. The first pitch was at 1:05 and the game ended around 4:07.
1st inning recap:
The Tigers have gotten some incredible pitching throughout spring training and it continued in the first inning when Matt Manning barely broke a sweat retiring the Mets in order. It took Manning just ten pitches to cruise through the first.
Detroit’s offense exploded Wednesday against the Twins in a 12-3 victory, and they carried it over to Thursday in their very first at-bat of the game. Parker Meadows, who has had a stellar spring, led off with a solo shot to right-center field to give the Tigers a 1-0.
Dominic Hamel, a third-round pick of the Mets in 2021, sat down Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson before walking Kerry Carpenter. Hamel was able to strike out former Mets outfielder Mark Canha to end the inning and limit the damage.
2nd inning recap:
Matt Manning looked even better in a 13-pitch second inning as he handled all three outs. He struck out two and got someone to hit a soft ground ball right back to him. Manning was flawless through the first two innings of Thursday’s match-up.
Detroit started the home half of the second inning the same way they started the 1st inning. Colt Keith, arguably the top prospect in the organization, hit his first home run of the spring, a solo shot to right field.
Gio Urshela singled later that inning but was left stranded as the Tigers took a 2-0 lead into the 3rd inning.
3rd inning recap:
Parker Meadows showcased one of his best attributes to open the third inning showing off his range in center field, running down a hard-hit ball in CF, and maintaining Manning’s flawless effort through 2.1. After retiring the first two batters of the inning, Manning finally slipped up. Harrison Bader made him pay for it with a solo home run to left field.
As the lineup flipped over to the top, Manning ran into trouble. After walking Jeff McNeil, Francisco Lindor, no stranger to Tigers fans, singled to right and put two on with two outs and Pete Alonso due up. Fortunately, Manning got Alonso to pop out to Keith at second base, and the Tigers held on to the lead, though the Mets did cut it in half with Bader’s HR, making it 2-1.
Detroit continued an incredible trend courtesy of Riley Greene as the Tigers outfielder copied Meadows and Keith by hitting a leadoff home run to left field and did so on a 3-0 count.
Torkelson followed Greene but flew out to the right. Kerry Carpenter, however, did something far more productive… he too hit an opposite-field home run extending the Tigers’ lead to 4-1. Carpenter’s blast put the Tigers in third in home runs this spring.
Hamel got Canha to fly out but was replaced before the end of the third inning. Trey McLoughlin was the new pitcher for the Mets and recorded the final out sending the game into the fourth inning with the Tigers leading 4-1.
4th inning recap:
Manning was working on a great rebound inning in the fourth after breezing through the first two batters Manning got a ground ball to short but an error on the throw from Javy Baez kept the inning alive for New York. Unfortunately, the Mets, and more specifically Matt Baty, capitalized on the opportunity and deposited a two-run home run to right-center field.
Baty’s third home run of the spring cut the Tigers’ lead down to 4-3.
When the Tigers returned to the plate, Javy Baez couldn’t continue Detroit’s trend of leading off with a home run. Baez failed to reach base at all. However, Gio Urshela collected his second hit of the game by hitting a ball into the gap and turning it into a triple. Carson Kelly followed it up with a walk, putting two runners on base for Meadows. It was going to be an inning-ending strike him out, throw him out, but it was determined that Lindor blocked second base, and it was awarded to Carson Kelly. Greene grounded out to first base anyhow, and it ended the Tigers’ threat in the fourth.
5th inning recap:
Manning returned to the mound for the fifth inning, having thrown 67 pitches up to that point, and walked the leadoff hitter Harrison Bader, who then stole second base. For the second time that afternoon, Manning walked Jeff McNeil, and it was the end of his outing at 77 pitches. Beau Brieske replaced Manning, who was responsible for the two runners on base with no outs, and he did a fantastic job getting the three batters he faced to fly out. Brieske successfully maintained the Tigers’ 4-3 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth.
Spencer Torkelson led off the bottom of the fifth with a walk but was stranded there as the next three batters all failed to reach base. Detroit still leads 4-3 entering the 6th inning.
6th inning recap:
Beau Brieske was back on the mound for the Tigers in the sixth inning. Brieske out-dueled veteran Sterling Marte before making quick work of Alvarez and retiring the first two batters. He completed a 1-2-3 inning by getting Brett Baty, who homered earlier in the game, to ground out to second base.
Javier Baez collected just his second hit of the spring to lead off the bottom of the sixth. He did so by hitting a single in-between third base and shortstop into left field. Urshela made a bid for 3-for-3, but the ball he hit was tracked down by Marte in right-center field. Jeff McNeil and Marte nearly collided in shallow right field but thankfully avoided the collision, and it was McNeil recording the second out of the inning. After 46 pitches, Tonkin was replaced with two outs and Baez on base. Daniel Juarez was the new pitcher for the Mets and faced Meadows to begin his outing. Juarez got Meadows to ground out on the first pitch, bringing the 6th inning to an end.
7th inning recap:
Alex Lange entered the game in the seventh inning and was lights out. He needed to throw just 13 pitches in a 1-2-3 inning.
Austin Adams was the new pitcher for New York in the bottom of the seventh. He didn’t have much of an issue in the seventh and kept the scoreboard quiet as the game entered the eighth inning.
8th inning recap:
Drew Anderson took the mound for the Tigers in the eighth inning. Anderson spent last season in Japan, where he had a 5-3 record, 1.88 ERA, and 1.02 WHIP. Anderson has been considered one of the more intriguing players for the Tigers this spring. He started his afternoon by striking out Francisco Lindor looking. Pete Alonso singled to right, and Vientos followed it up with a single up the middle. Anderson found himself in some trouble. Marte worked a walk as Anderson struggled with his command. The walk warranted a mound visit from Chris Fetter. The mound visit was no help as Alvarez sent a hot shot up the middle, scoring two runs and giving the Mets their first lead of the game (5-4). Despite the struggle, Hinch left Anderson on the mound.
Anderson allowed another walk, this time going to Baty, and that was enough for Hinch to finally pull him out of the game. Petit took over and was no better walking the first batter he faced on four pitches, allowing a run to score. The Mets had taken a 6-4 lead and were threatening to add more. Petit did rebound by striking out Bader, but everything derailed when former Tigers infielder Zach Short had a pinch-hit grand slam, giving the Mets plenty of breathing room with a 10-4 lead. Finally, the nightmare seven-run inning came to an end.
Shintaro Fujinami entered the game for the Mets in the eighth. Carlos Mendoza got on base to lead off the inning and used good baserunning to score, but that was the lone run for the Tigers in the eighth inning, and they entered the ninth trailing by five runs.
9th inning recap:
Tim Naughton was on the mound for Detroit in the ninth and did his job keeping the score 10-5 as the Tigers looked to mount a comeback.
Tyler Jay last pitched in the major leagues seven years ago when he threw four innings for the Minnesota Twins. He was on the mound in the ninth, trying to get the Mets a victory. He got off to a good start by striking out Meadows with his fastball. Short made a great play against former teammate Riley Greene getting the second out of the inning. Daniel Cabrera was the last hope for the Tigers, but unfortunately grounded out, and that was all from Lakeland.
While there were positives throughout the majority of the game, the Tigers ultimately fell to the Mets 10-5 in the final televised spring training game of 2024 for the Tigers. Weather permitting Tarik Skubal is scheduled to pitch tomorrow for the Tigers against the Philadelphia Phillies.
