The MLB playoff race is heating up. The American League Wild Card is particularly close, as the Kansas City Royals and Minnesota Twins desperately cling to wild card spots for the playoffs, while the Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners try their hardest to track them down. These next two weeks will be telling as to who looks back fondly on the 2024 season, as opposed to the fans who will soon second guess their team’s every move.
The Tigers and the Royals specifically have a lot to think about, as the two teams are in the midst of a three-game set, doing battle in Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
The Tuesday night middle game of the series was intense, as former number one overall pick Casey Mize started for the Tigers opposite the Royals ace pitcher Cole Ragans.
The game did not start innocuously at all, as Ragans promptly hit one of the Tigers’ lefty killers, Andy Ibanez, with a pitch. Matt Vierling, now officially a year older after a Monday birthday, made Ragans pay with a run-scoring double to give the Tigers an early 1-0 advantage.
Mize, on the other hand, waited until the third inning to give up a run, allowing a couple of hits and eventually an RBI single from Michael Massey. However, Mize stopped the bleeding, and despite giving up a run, left the mound after 4.1 innings in a tie game. Definitely a shorter outing than he wanted, Mize was able to keep the Tigers afloat.
The Tigers’ bullpen held the Royals at bay, just as Ragans and the Royals’ bullpen did to the Tigers.
For 9 innings, that is. With the score still knotted after the ninth inning, extra-inning baseball, when crazy things happen, was set.
The tenth inning started normally enough, with a groundout to third keeping Trey Sweeney, the automatic runner, at second. Lucas Erceg, pitching for the Royals, then balked, and Sweeney got to third base anyway. Parker Meadows subsequently blooped in a single that scored Sweeney. After a Vierling single advanced Meadows to scoring position, Riley Greene lined a single over Erceg and just past Bobby Witt Jr. to score Vierling and give the Tigers a 3-1 lead.
The scoring was over, as Jason Foley was strong again, pitching a scoreless frame and securing a key win for the Tigers, guaranteeing a series win and now eyeing a sweep.
