The San Diego Padres played host to the Detroit Tigers late Thursday night, with the Padres having already won the first two games of the series. Before heading to California, however, the Tigers had been tearing it up, reaching a .500 winning percentage after the All-Star Break for the first time in years.
With Casey Mize starting and fully healthy for the first time in months, Tigers faithful had plenty of reason to believe. That belief, however, was short-lived, as home runs from All-Star outfielder Jurickson Profar and former AL MVP Xander Bogaerts tilted the score to 3-0 in San Diego’s favor after just two innings.
After the initial struggles, Mize pitched well, leaving the game after 5.1 innings, having only allowed three runs. However, his inability to generate whiffs is a persistent issue. A good start nonetheless, Mize kept the Tigers in the game.
On the other side, lefty Martin Perez was dealing. Throwing 6.1 scoreless innings goes down as a gem, and five strikeouts proved to be enough to keep the Tigers hitters off balance. Tigers manager AJ Hinch loaded his lineup with right-handed batters, but Perez proved difficult to read.
After Mize, the Tigers turned to Kenta Maeda and former Dodger Ricky Vanasco, who both threw scoreless outings to get the Tigers to the ninth inning. To counter, the Padres ran out Jason Adam and Tanner Scott, each of whom has an ERA under 2.00. The San Diego duo kept the Tigers offense stymied, and the score remained 3-0 after eight innings.
In the top of the ninth, the Padres trotted out their star reliever Robert Suarez. The leadoff batter in the inning was rookie Justyn Henry-Malloy, who served up a lead-off single. Fellow rookie Jace Jung then pinch-hit for Jake Rogers and drew a walk. Another rookie, this time Colt Keith drew another walk, this one loading the bases. Parker Meadows, not much more than a rookie, came to the plate with two outs and quickly got two strikes called on him. Then, Meadows hit a fly ball that just kept carrying, over the wall, a grand slam and a backbreaker for the Padres.
Tyler Holton pitched the bottom of the ninth inning for the Tigers and gave up just a single. The Tigers move on to Oakland, having avoided a series sweep in San Diego and keeping their winning record.
