Tigers’ outfielders save the day with their gloves

KANSAS CITY — Riley Greene had by no means gone hitless in a sport towards the Royals in his temporary massive league profession, an 18-game streak that ranked because the second-longest by an MLB participant towards one workforce. No four-hit performances or stat-stuffing video games within the bunch, however usually one thing to assist the Tigers get via, akin to his walk-off residence run at Comerica Park final summer season for his first MLB homer.

That hitting streak ended Monday at Kauffman Stadium, however by taking a success away on protection, he discovered one other strategy to torment his division rival, even when he needed to endure that break up second of fearing he’d messed it up.

“Horrible soar off the bat,” Greene mentioned of his over-the-shoulder seize, which helped preserve the Tigers shut earlier than they rallied for a 3-2 win. “From the place I used to be, I assumed he bought fisted on it, so I did not assume it was going to go that far. … After which I used to be like, ‘Oh god, I’ve gotta return.”

Spencer Torkelson couldn’t assist however needle his good buddy about that.

“And you then needed to screw it up and go Willie Mays,” Torkelson mentioned from a pair lockers over.

Whereas Greene was assured he may run it down, even when it seemed like a hook route, it was an important catch with a level of issue. All three Tigers outfielders had spotlight catches on an evening when Detroit needed to wait out Royals starter Jordan Lyles earlier than attending to their bullpen to tug forward late for his or her third win in 4 video games out of the All-Star break.

“I nearly really feel like we stole that win,” mentioned Matt Vierling, whose diving catch in proper discipline helped starter Matt Manning via 5 2/3 innings with two unearned runs. “And that’s enormous for us. I feel down the highway, that’s massive for us. With the ability to win as many as we will, particularly like that, I feel that offers us a whole lot of confidence going late in video games, being down a pair runs, figuring out we will try this.”

They know they’ll observe down balls and take away runs within the spacious outfield of Kauffman Stadium, as a result of they cope with that sort of territory frequently at residence.

“It is nearly like Comerica [Park],” Greene mentioned. “Comerica is large and we’re used to it. This place is large, too. We’ve got a fairly good really feel for it as a result of we’re used to protecting floor on the market.”

Regardless of the misinterpret, Greene mentioned he was assured he may run down Matt Duffy’s drive with runners at first and second within the seventh. He wanted to cowl 57 toes and ended up operating 72, in line with Statcast, taking within the ball like a large receiver for the second out of the seventh inning. As soon as Brendan White struck out Nicky Lopez to finish the risk, the Tigers may go into the eighth inning nonetheless down simply two runs as a substitute of worse.

“Our outfield protection was sensational,” supervisor A.J. Hinch mentioned.

Each Royals runs scored from second on fourth-inning singles to left discipline, with third-base coach and former Tiger Vance Wilson testing the arm of Akil Baddoo. So it was simply revenge when Baddoo examined proper fielder MJ Melendez and stretched a leadoff hit right into a double, offering a spark for a Tigers offense that had gone 20 scoreless innings since Kerry Carpenter’s three-run homer Saturday at Seattle.

Up got here Greene with two outs, trying to lengthen his hitting streak and finish Detroit’s drought. As a substitute, by taking a Taylor Clarke pitch beneath his proper arm, he started a string of three consecutive Tigers baserunners reaching with out placing a ball in play. Carpenter drew a bases-loaded four-pitch stroll from Jose Cuas; Matt Vierling’s opposite-field double scored two extra.

Immediately, the Tigers have been in entrance. Simply when the Royals appeared set to rally within the backside of the eighth, with Samad Taylor shifting into scoring place with a leadoff single and stolen base off Jason Foley, Baddoo joined the spotlight parade by operating down Kyle Isbel’s opposite-field drive within the left-field nook with a lunging seize.

“I felt like I used to be operating for days,” Baddoo mentioned, “however I used to be glad I used to be in a position to get that catch.”

Alex Lange watched from the bullpen as Baddoo chased it.

“Off the bat, I used to be like, ‘I feel that is going to get down,’” mentioned Lange, who retired the Royals so as within the ninth for his fifteenth save. “He was closing in arduous. He’s fairly particular on the market.”