ANAHEIM, Calif. – Zach Neto poked the bear.

A confrontation between the Angels’ talented and feisty shortstop and Tigers’ ace Tarik Skubal ratcheted up the intensity in this series tenfold Friday night.

And the drama culminated in some extreme Tiger thunder in the ninth inning. They blew up a 1-1 game scoring eight times to beat the Angels 9-1 at Angels Stadium. And most of the damage came against decorated veteran reliever Kenley Jensen.

Riley Greene homered twice in the inning, a solo shot leading off against Jansen and a three-run homer to cap the inning against lefty Jake Eder. Greene, with eight homers, is the first Tiger to hit multiple homers in the same inning since Magglio Ordonez in 2007.

Colt Keith went back-to-back with Greene to start the inning, his second homer in three games. And Javier Baez homered for the third straight game. Quite the offensive explosion.

It was a different type of fireworks early.

Neto ambushed Skubal’s first pitch, launching a 98-mph four-seamer 429 feet over wall in left-center field.

Neto stood at home plate and admired his work a bit too long, which grated on the Tigers’ dugout and on Skubal.

Skubal started unleashing high-octane sinkers and four-seamers, hitting 100 mph and in one stretch pumping four straight 99-mph heaters.

Neto came up for the second time with a runner at third and one out in the third inning. Skubal blew him away with an elevated 99-mph four-seamer and then yelled something at Neto.

Something to the effect of, “Sit the bleep down.”

Neto stared back at Skubal for a couple of seconds before saying something back. At one point, Skubal waved Neto out to the mound, as if saying, “Let’s go.”

The Angels dugout emptied first and the Tigers immediately after. Nothing came of it and both teams were separated quickly and the bullpen pitchers were sent back before they even got to the infield.

Skubal was unfazed by the ruckus. He went right back to work, piling up strikeouts and quick outs, turning the Angels’ aggressive approach into quick innings.

After a six-pitch fourth, he was at 48 pitches.

The Angels got three first-pitch hits, including Neto’s homer. But Skubal also got four first-pitch outs. He was at an economical 64 pitches after punching out the last three hitters in the Angels lineup in the fifth.

The economy of his work is what made it a bit odd that manager AJ Hinch removed him after six innings and 73 pitches. He finished his night with six straight outs, four of them strikeouts.

He had eight strikeouts and no walks in his outing.

And he left the game tied 1-1.

The Tigers couldn’t solve Angels starter Jose Soriano. With his 96 and 97 mph four-seamers and sinkers complemented by power knuckle-curves and splitters, he blanked them on six hits in six innings.

Shortstop Trey Sweeney tied the game in the top of the seventh, hooking a 3-2 off-speed pitch into the short corner in right field, just inside the foul pole against right-handed reliever Ryan Johnson.

It was Sweeney’s second homer of the season.

Relievers Chase Lee and Tyler Holton combined for six straight outs to get the game to the ninth.

DETROIT – You’ve heard him say it a lot. Everything matters. And if manager AJ Hinch ever needs an abject reference point, he can use the Tigers’ 4-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles in the front end of a doubleheader Saturday.

Spencer Torkelson’s opposite-field home run in the seventh inning provided the margin of victory. Casey Mize held a lineup of dangerous left-handed hitters at bay for 5.1 innings with relievers Brenan Hanifee, Tyler Holton and Will Vest locking it down — Vest earning a four-out save punching out Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg to end it.

Those were the headline moments. But the headline would be different without a handful of other smaller moments throughout the game.

“Knowing we had a second game makes it even more rewarding to win the first one,” Hinch said. “I thought in equal parts we were going to break the game open and in equal parts it was like, ‘Oh (crap), they’ve created some leverage for themselves.’

“Winning the first game of a series is always important. But to win it the way we did was good to see.”

To Hinch’s point about blowing the game open: They worked five walks in the first two innings off Orioles’ starter Brandon Young and came out of it with just two runs. They left the bases loaded twice. But with Mize grinding through the Orioles’ lefty-heavy lineup, allowing only a solo homer to Ryan O’Hearn, they were able to weather some trouble.

“I feel like if I can keep the ball on the ground, good things will happen more times than not,” said Mize, who improved to 4-1, lowering his ERA to 2.12. “We made an error on the first batter of the game and then immediately got a double-play. That’s a huge moment for our team.”

Catcher Dillon Dingler got Mize out of that first inning by throwing out Westburg trying to steal second base. Dingler’s pop time to second base was a season-best 1.86 seconds. It was one of a few small ways that Dingler impacted this win.

He kept the Tigers’ two-run second inning alive, first legging out a ground ball and preventing a double-play. Then he avoided getting back-picked off first base on a strong throw by catcher Gary Sanchez, making a deft slide to avoid the tag.

Dingler played a big role in a pivotal defensive play in the sixth inning.

The Orioles, down 3-1 in the sixth, put runners at the corners with back-to-back singles off Mize. The Tigers pulled their infield in and Mize got Heston Kjerstad to hit a ground ball to the right of Torkelson at first base.

Torkelson fielded the ball on the grass and fired home without hesitation. Dingler not only applied a firm tag as the runner Westburg was sliding into him, he also took the throw in textbook position to avoid getting called for blocking the plate.

“It was a good day for Tork on both sides of the ball and that’s so good to see,” Hinch said. “That is an instinctual defensive play where he’s got to read it. We know we’re in a little bit of trouble there. He may go to second, he may just take the out at first. But he read the play, got the hop and goes home to get a pretty good runner.

“That instinctive play is an indication of he’s playing with freedom and the right balance of know-how and execution.”

Hanifee replaced Mize at that point and retired Ramon Urias and Jackson Holliday to escape the inning.

“Tork saves the run where, if he doesn’t, we’d still be playing,” Mize said. “Huge play. We played good defense all around.”

Riley Greene, as he has so often, gave up his body to make a couple of pivotal plays in left field, too. With two on in the second inning, he raced back to the wall to take extra bases away from Jackson Holliday. He hit the wall awkwardly and came off the wall shaking out his left shoulder.

In the seventh, he took a home run away from Ramon Laureano. Again he tracked the ball to the wall. This time he had to leap and extend as he was crashing into the wall. He caught it and caromed hard to the ground.

“I guess we have to put him in center so he can avoid the fence,” Hinch said, half-joking. “The ball finds him and he finds a way to get big outs. I’ll play him in center in Game 2 and it might be a breather for him because there’s not a fence anywhere near him.

“But I love the way he stays in the play.”

Later in the inning, he nearly stole a single from Henderson with a diving attempt in short left.

“That was a good attempt,” Hinch said. “One of the reasons I love Riley in left, it’s not just because it’s not as much to cover as in center, but he’s actually really good in left. He’s got a good feel for where he is and he can get up over the fence.

“He seems to make great plays when it doesn’t seem like a play is possible. And that’s because he sells out from the jump.”

One big blast by Torkelson and a bunch of lower-key clutch plays — including a two-out RBI single by Jace Jung, his first hit since being called up from Toledo — added to another win for the 16-10 Tigers.

DETROIT – Driving to Sarasota back on March 21, it dawned on Tarik Skubal that he hadn’t faced the Orioles in a while.

“Yeah, I was trying to think, like, ‘When was the last time I pitched against those guys?’” he said.

The last time he faced the Orioles in a regular-season game was May 15, 2022, before he had flexor tendon surgery, before he morphed into Cy Skub. He punched out 11 in six scoreless innings that day at Comerica Park.

He will face them again Sunday in the series finale. But that trip to Sarasota in March triggered one of his favorite memories.

“The last time I went to Sarasota before that, I started against Felix Hernandez,” he said.

True story. King Felix was trying to make a comeback with the Orioles in the spring of 2021. His spring start against Skubal was one of the final starts of his career. The long-time Mariners ace never got back to the big leagues after 2019.

“I went to college in Seattle, right, so I was very familiar with him,” Skubal said. “That was one of the coolest things ever, that I was starting against Felix Hernandez.”

Skubal is coming off a grind of a start a week ago. The Royals took an effective approach against him, essentially selling out to an opposite-field approach. They ended up with seven singles, all up the middle or to the opposite side and paper-cut Skubal out of the game after five innings.

Skubal talked at length Saturday about how he deals with situations like that and the balance he has between relying on scouting reports and trusting that he can win most battles with his elite pitch mix.

Just so you know, he relishes the chess match.

“That’s what makes the game fun,” he said. “That back and forth. I think the game would get monotonous, if not boring, if you just went out and did the same thing. There is always the chess match, the back and forth, the counts, the previous at-bat, the game flow — all of that stuff is what makes the game fun.

“And it’s what pushes you to continue to get better.”

Skubal, despite the Cy Young Award last year, despite being one of the games’ dominant lefties the last year and a half, still sees himself as an unfinished product.

“When my career is done, that’s when I will be a finished product,” he said. “I’m always trying to learn, trying to get better, trying to be a better version of myself. Right now the best version of myself is who I am.

“But like two years from now, what am I going to be?”

For sure he will have a counter move should the Orioles try to replicate the Royals’ attack plan. But he’s still coming with his upper-90s four-seam and sinker, elite changeup, slider and knuckle-curve.

He seeks to find that balance between game plan and attacking strength on strength.

“As a pitcher, you always have to pitch to your strengths,” Skubal said. “You also need to know the hitters’ weaknesses if your strengths aren’t your strength that day. But I’m always going to pitch to my strengths.

“If a guy hammers changeups, I’m still going to throw a changeup. Can you hit mine? Then, oh, you can? Then we’ll flip the script.”

Skubal takes the game-planning part seriously. Not necessarily to map out specific pitch sequences for each hitter, but to reinforce his own pitch decisions.

“They help me mentally buy in a little more with every pitch,” he said. “That helps me execute. When I’ve done my homework and I know they can’t handle certain pitches, it helps me execute at a higher clip than just blindly going up there and, here’s a 2-1 slider.

“Why am I throwing that pitch?”

The scouting report helps bolster conviction. The worst feeling for a pitcher, Skubal will tell you, is to get beat on an non-convicted pitch.

“If you get burned on anything, you want a reason why threw that pitch,” he said. “It helps you kind of move on. Was I throwing that curveball just to throw it or was there a reason to throw it?

“If you have a reason for everything you do, it helps you sleep better at night – good or bad – because you bought in to what you were doing.”

More: Breaking down root causes of Colt Keith’s ever-shrinking role with Tigers

There is a reason, too, that game plans aren’t etched in stone, figuratively speaking. Things happen in the game that can quickly alter the course.

“The scouting report might say this guy hammers fastballs,” Skubal said. “And I throw him a fastball in his first at-bat and he’s way behind. Hey, guess what? You are going to get a ton of them.”

It can go the other way, too.

“It’s day to day,” he said. “Some scouting reports are based on year-long data. But what if a guy is in a slump. (Boston slugger) Raffy Devers got thrown 17 fastballs in a game earlier. If I looked at a scouting report, I guarantee it says he hits fastballs.

“But at that moment, he wasn’t hitting fastballs. So you throw them.”

There are nuances to this stuff within at-bats. Skubal was asked about being fearless and throwing challenge fastballs in hitter-friendly counts.

“Just because you are in a hitter’s count doesn’t mean they’re thinking a heater is coming,” he said. “I’ve probably earned the right to throw some 2-0 fastballs because the at-bat prior I might’ve thrown a 2-0 changeup.

“That’s just stuff that goes on in the game. If I just went out there and did the same thing every game, I’d start to feel like a robot. That stuff is the human element in the game and that’s what makes it fun.”

There is a zone pitchers all strive to get to. Skubal has been there many times. Reese Olson got into one Wednesday. It’s the point where the game planning, conviction and execution all come together and you just start imposing your will on hitters.

“I can throw a fastball at 96 mph with 18 inches of carry and two inches of horizontal break and it gets fouled off because I wasn’t bought in,” Skubal said. “I can throw that same heater at 96 and I’m bought in on it and for whatever reason, there is a little more life on it, even though the numbers say it’s the same pitch.

“You can see it. It just comes out and you are going right after guys. It’s overwhelming. When I’m sitting in the dugout watching other guys do it, it’s like, ‘Holy crap.’ It’s so hard to get in that mode.”

Skubal watched Yankees’ lefty Max Fried get in one of those zones against the Tigers when he punched out 11 in seven innings back on April 9.

“That was probably the best I’ve ever watched from a starting pitcher,” Skubal said. “It was unbelievable and it was overwhelming. I was like, we don’t have a chance. At the end of the outing he started ripping 96 and 97 and we’re way late because he’d slowed us down the whole game.

“I’m getting goosebumps right now. That’s pitching.”

Skubal is due for a goosebump outing of his own.

DETROIT – Tarik Skubal didn’t want anyone to misinterpret the somber nature of the clubhouse or lose perspective about what’s been going on with this Tigers baseball team.

“We won three out of four,” Skubal reminded everyone after a tough, 4-3, 10-inning loss to the Royals Sunday. “I think the vibe you have in here right now is that we just lost. But look at this series. Winning three our of four is a very positive thing. And we’ve won a lot of series this year. We have to continue doing that and it starts tomorrow against the Padres.”

Contributing to the subdued Easter Sunday vibe, too, was that slugger Kerry Carpenter was pulled from the game in the top of the ninth inning with an apparent right hamstring injury.

“Injuries always suck,” Skubal said. “Hopefully it’s nothing. He’s a big part of our lineup…hopefully it’s nothing serious. Let’s pray for the best.”

Manager AJ Hinch said Carpenter felt something in the hamstring after legging out an infield single in the seventh inning. He would’ve batted third in the bottom of the ninth had he been able to stay in the game.

Carpenter was sent for tests after the game and was not available to comment.

“All losses are tough to swallow,” Hinch said. “This was a winnable game. We put ourselves in position and probably could’ve tacked on and created a little more space. But they did a good job of battling back.”

What stings, too, is that the Tigers contributed to their own demise. The Royals tied the game in the top of the eighth with an unearned run, created by a Javier Baez throwing error. And the Royals won it in the 10th, scoring the free runner without the benefit of a hit.

“You mix up any other sequence of events in the 10th and they don’t score a run,” said reliever Tyler Holton who set down six straight hitters in two innings and still got charged with the loss. “They did a good job of getting (the free runner) over and hitting something deep enough to get him in.

“I struck out the last guy. Wish I’d struck out one of the first two.”

The free runner was Drew Waters, whom Holton struck out to end the ninth. Waters advanced to third on a ground out to second by Jonathan India and scored on sacrifice fly to left by Bobby Witt, Jr.

The loss prevented the Tigers not only from the sweep, but also from getting a little slice of history. A win would have made them the first Tigers team in 83 years to start a season 9-1 at home. Not even the champion 1984 team, with a 35-5 start, did that.

They used a Royals’ misplay to break a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the seventh and then returned the favor in the top of the eighth.

Gleyber Torres was on first with one out when first baseman Salvador Perez fielded Carpenter’s ground ball. Both the pitcher, lefty Daniel Lynch, and second baseman Makail Garcia went to cover the base and Perez threw the ball right between them.

t was scored a single and Carpenter, even though he tweaked his hamstring, stayed in the game at that point. Zach McKinstry, whose two-hit RBI single in the fifth tied the game 2-2, was up next. Hinch, with right-handed hitter Andy Ibanez available off his bench, stuck with the lefty-lefty matchup.

“They would’ve brought (righty John) Schreiber in for Ibanez,” Hinch explained. “So the two matchups were a sidearm, nasty righty at 94 mph on Andy or Z-Mac, who has defended himself against a lot of guys. Credit to Z-Mac for giving us the option to hang in there.”

McKinstry, now 7 for 17 against lefties this season, responded with the RBI knock, his third hit of the game.

They missed a chance to expand the lead when Schreiber, the former Tiger and downriver native, got Riley Greene to hit into a 3-2-3 double-play with the bases loaded ending the seventh.

The Tigers gave the lead back in the top of the eighth. With Tommy Kahnle pitching, Baez, playing third base, made an errant throw to first on a ground ball by Witt Jr., a two-base error. One out later, another former Tiger, Mark Canha cashed it in with an RBI single.

The pesky Royals offense made it a short outing for Skubal, too, something they have done to him before. They grind out at-bats, scratch out a few singles and just be a general nuisance. They worked a couple of long innings, pushed his pitch-count up and got him out of the game in five innings. That alone is a win for most teams.

“That’s a good team over there,” Skubal said. “They fouled off a ton of pitches, even good pitches and were able to push some stuff the other way. I gave up seven singles and it seemed like all of them were to the right side. Clearly that was their approach and one through nine they were able to execute it.

“That hard to do and they were able to do it.”

At one point, after Waters blooped a second opposite-field single, Skubal had to joke with him.

“I’ll give you one, but not two,” Skubal said, laughing. “And you saw Salvy (Perez) in the dugout. He was laughing, holding up two fingers.”

The Royals pushed across two runs in the second inning, stringing four singles, including a two-strike RBI single by lefty-swinging Vinnie Pasquantino.

It was just the fifth hit and first RBI Skubal has allowed to a left-handed hitter this season.

“They came out with an incredible team approach against him,” Hinch said. “They were conceding one side of the field (the pull side). They were conceding a lot to create some action on the bases. They did a good job of staying on his fastball and his changeup, fighting off pitches while still working everything toward right field.

“Tarik continued to try and disrupt their timing but not a ton was taking them off their plan.”

Skubal still did a lot of Skubal-like things. He pounded the strike zone (18 of 23 first-pitch strikes), got 12 swings and misses (eight with his changeup on 23 swings) and 21 called strikes.

“That team made me make a bunch of good pitches and they were able to put the bat on some mistakes,” Skubal said. “That’s what that team does. They’re really good.”

He was asked, in hindsight, knowing they were going to be committed to an opposite-field attack plan, what he might’ve done differently to counteract it.

“I probably wouldn’t tell you guys,” he said. “Those are conversations I’ve already had. I think you can see with their swings and stuff. I just need to be better at executing pitches when I know that’s what’s going on.”

Fair enough.

 

DETROIT – Entering play Sunday, the Tigers were the only team in baseball to boast four starting pitchers with ERAs under 3.00. They were also one of the few to not have a pitcher make a single start on the traditional four days of rest.

Cause and effect?

Probably not. But the extra rest between starts has not been accidental.

“The goal is to routinely give guys extra rest this season,” manager AJ Hinch said before the game. “And that’s been on purpose. It’s been designed and it’s been somewhat of a gift from the schedule with the off days early in the year.”

It’s why Keider Montero was called up last week to enlarge the rotation to six. It’s why Montero will get a second start Monday against the Padres.

“One of the things I said when Keider got here was we wanted to give the rotation an extra day,” Hinch said. “When we decided to push to get him a second appearance, we had the opportunity to insert him whenever we wanted to.”

They chose to insert him Monday, a decision at least partially impacted by Casey Mize’s strong seven-inning win Saturday. If the bullpen, already taxed and an arm short, had to pick up multiple innings Saturday, Hinch could have kept Jack Flaherty in place on Monday – figuring with Tarik Skubal (Sunday) and Flaherty going back-to-back, the bullpen could get back on track.

“We are going to continue to do this,” Hinch said. “Just being aware of our whole rotation and being proactive on that as opposed to waiting and being reactive. This has evolved into being the best plan to gain the most in terms of rest and recovery.”

It’s not an exact science, of course, but there is some correlation between the extra rest and performance gains.

“Opinions on that vary,” Hinch said. “The information that comes with that can vary pitcher to pitcher. But generally speaking, recovery is the hardest thing to gauge. We’re a sport that thrives on routine. And the everyday component and the history of the game will tell us that these guys like to pitch routinely every five days.

“The rest and recovery information will tell you that stuff is just a little bit better when you get more rest.”

The data gets a little fuzzy, though, when the extra day of rest turns into two and three days of extra rest. Then it becomes a rust vs. rest argument.

“The best laid plans will get messed up by Mother Nature or odd games or uncontrollable circumstances,” Hinch said. “We targeted this part of the schedule because this is the longest stretch of games in the month of April (23 games in 24 days).

“You need to be adaptable and balance the proactive approach with the fatigue and soreness that come with the rigors of the season, and inevitably it comes at a different time for each pitcher. So it may not be the blanket, ‘everybody gets an extra day of rest’ when we chose to do it again.”

Welcome Bailey Horn

There’s been somewhat of a disconnect with Tigers’ newest reliever, lefty Bailey Horn, between the quality of his stuff and the results.

And neither Hinch nor Horn hesitated when asked for the cause of this disconnect.

“Strike zone,” Hinch said.

“Get in the zone,” Horn said. “Attack the hitters starting with strike one and stay on top of them. Compete in the zone and don’t nibble.”

The 27-year-old, who debuted with the Red Sox last season, has a power arm (95 mph with his fastball) and an 82-mph sweeper. And when he’s working ahead in the count he can be menacing.

Too often, though, he has not been in the zone. He had an 11.4% walk rated in 18 innings with the Red Sox last season and he walked eight in 8.1 innings at Triple-A Toledo this year. He also posted 11 strikeouts.

“If you look across his stuff, there is a lot to like,” Hinch said. “The power, the ability to manipulate the ball and get it to move — there’s a lot he can offer. The difference between Triple-A and the big leagues for him is the strike zone. He’s got to be a reliable strike-thrower and keep his outings condensed to impact the competition.

“The execution is going to be game-changer if we can get him in the zone.”

The Tigers liked his stuff enough to acquire him twice. They claimed him off waivers last November, released him in January, and re-acquired him for cash from St. Louis on March 13.

He was asked if the command issues were a function of trust or mechanics.

“Maybe a mixture of both at times,” he said. “It’s execution. Just executing pitches in the zone.”

Old friend alert

Look who was batting cleanup for the Royals Sunday.

Mark Canha, who was among the Tigers’ roster purge at the trade deadline last season, was activated off the injured list by the Royals, completing what has been an odd stretch for him.

A free agent this winter, he sat waiting until Feb. 24 when the Brewers signed him to a minor-league contract. Then on March 22, he was traded to Kansas City.

“Yeah, the wait was a lot longer than I expected,” he said. “But I knew it would work out in the end and it did. And here I am. Happy camper.”

Canha got off to a hot start with the Royals, going 5 for 14 with a pair of doubles. But he went on the injured list on April 9 with an abductor strain.

Like most, Canha was locked in to the Tigers’ run at the end of last season.

“That was an incredible run,” he said. “Hats off to them. I was pulling for them. I was texting the guys in the playoffs, like, ‘All right, let’s go.’ Sending them encouraging texts. It was fun to watch.”

Canha, in his return to the lineup, got the pleasure of facing reigning Cy Young winning Tarik Skubal. Back on Aug. 31, 2021, when Canha was playing for Oakland, he homered and doubled off Skubal at Comerica Park.

The legitimacy of the homer has been a topic of banter between the two, since the right-handed hitting Canha snuck his home run inside the right-field foul pole.

Around the horn

Spencer Torkelson entered play Sunday leading the American League with 14 extra-base hits. He also had four game-winning RBI on his early-season resume.

… Utility player Matt Vierling (rotator cuff) took an intense round of fielding drills at third base before the game with infield coach Joey Cora. The expectation is, barring setback, he could start his rehab assignment as soon as the end of next week.

… Skubal, over his last 17 starts at Comerica Park before Sunday, had an 11-1 record with a 1.88 ERA.

DETROIT (AP) — Tomás Nido and Andy Ibáñez hit solo homers and rookie Jackson Jobe pitched five strong innings to lead the Detroit Tigers to a 7-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Friday night.

Spencer Torkelson delivered a two-run double in the seventh for his AL-leading 13th extra-base hit for the Tigers.

Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr. doubled in the first to extend his hitting streak to 11 games, scoring on Vinnie Pasquantino’s double for a 1-0 lead.

Nido, who went 3 for 4, homered for the first time with the Tigers to tie it in the second. Ibáñez’s solo shot leading off the fourth put them ahead for good.

Jobe (2-0) allowed one run on five hits.

Riley Greene and Trey Sweeney had RBI singles in a three-run fifth to chase Royals starter Cole Ragans (1-1), whose team record-tying streak of three straight starts with 10-plus strikeouts ended. Ragans gave up five runs on six hits in four innings, striking out eight for a major league-best 39.

Witt singled and scored on Pasquantino’s single in the ninth off Kenta Maeda. Tommy Kahnle got the final two outs for his fourth save.

The Royals have lost five straight and are 1-7 so far on a 10-game road trip.

Key moment

The Royals sent the tying run to the plate with one out in the ninth, but Kahnle struck out Cavan Biggio before Drew Waters lined out to end it.

Key stat

The Royals began the day averaging 2.95 runs — ahead of only the Rockies. They have scored four runs or less in 19 of 21 games and haven’t scored more than four since April 4 against Baltimore.

Up next

RHP Seth Lugo (1-2, 3.86 ERA) starts for the Royals, who have dropped the first two in the four-game series. The Tigers counter with RHP Casey Mize (2-1, 2.60).

MILWAUKEE – The first question that had to be answered Tuesday night was whether the Tigers were going to manage a base hit.

Brewers’ right-hander Quinn Priester kept the hit column empty for five innings, though he did walk three and took the mound in the sixth at 81 pitches.

Gleyber Torres whacked a 1-1 sinker into the gap in right-center for a double. Yes, they managed a hit.

Second question, would they be able to climb out of a 3-0 hole against the Brewers’ bullpen.

Negative.

Torres’ hit was the only one produced by the Tigers and the Brewers evened the series with a 5-0 win at American Family Field.

Torres ended up stranded at third base when lefty reliever Jared Koenig entered and struck out Riley Greene (looking) and Spencer Torkelson (swinging) to end the sixth.

The last 12 hitters were dispatched in order Koenig (1.1 innings), Abner Uribe (.2), Nick Mears (1) and Grant Anderson (1).

It was a labor-intensive start for Tigers’ Jack Flaherty. He seemed out of sync from the first inning on, with his fastball velocity fluctuating from 89 mph to 94 and getting into deep counts.

Rhys Hoskins opened the second inning with a 440-foot home run to left-center and it was an example of Flaherty’s issues. He got ahead with a 93-mph four-seamer, painted on the outer edge.

Next pitch, another four-seamer, this one at 90 mph in the heart of the plate.

Sal Frelick followed with a triple and he scored on a sacrifice fly by Garrett Mitchell.

The Brewers tacked on a two-out run in the fourth on a double by Mitchell and a bloop single by Joey Ortiz.

Flaherty was pulled with two outs in the fifth. He was at 98 pitches, only 56 strikes.

The Tigers’ bullpen didn’t hold the game in check, though hat-tip to Torres for saving one run.

With Frelick at second base and two outs in the sixth, Ortiz spanked a ground ball that looked ticketed for right field. Torres ranged to his left and made a sensational diving play, getting up quickly to make the throw to first.

The Brewers scored two unearned runs off Brenan Hanifee in the seventh. A one-out throwing error by third baseman Andy Ibanez was the culprit.

Brenan Hanifee ended up throwing 38 pitches in 1.1 innings, making him the leading candidate to get optioned back to Triple-A Toledo to make room for Keider Montero, who was summoned and will start the finale of this series Wednesday.

DETROIT — Justyn-Henry Malloy doesn’t seem like a prototypical leadoff hitter, at least not in any old-school sense. But he has certainly produced like one.

“I started to think about how it’s a privilege to set the tone,” Malloy said after he again helped spark the Tigers’ offense in a 7-2 romp over the White Sox on a dreary Saturday afternoon at Comerica Park. “To be able to try to set the tone. And of course, when you have Carp and Riley right behind you and you wear them out a little bit and they get a good pitch to hit and they get to eat.

“And then the rest of the lineup eats.

That’s been the formula as the Tigers have won four of five after dropping the first three to the Dodgers in Los Angeles.

In Malloy’s first start at the top of the order last Monday in Seattle, after he was hastily summoned early that morning from Toledo, he ignited the offense with a leadoff double, an RBI single, two walks and scored two runs in the Tigers’ first win of the season.

He went 0 for 4 with a walk in the home opener on Friday, but saw 27 pitches, helping to drive White Sox starter Jonathan Cannon out of the game in the fourth inning.

“J-Hen hunted the first pitch in that game, so he wasn’t looking to take (pitches),” manager AJ Hinch said. “You look back at his at-bats and man, he grinded the living you-know-what out of their pitcher from the leadoff spot. He didn’t get a lot of love to show for it but those were five-, six-, seven-, eight-pitch at-bats.”

Malloy was back at the top of the order Saturday and kicked things off with a first-pitch double in a two-run first inning and a two-out walk in the second ahead of Kerry Carpenter’s third home run in two games.

“He’s super impressive,” said Carpenter, who blistered a first-pitch curveball on a line (109-mph exit velocity) inside the foul pole in right field. “I love hitting after him. I’m confident even with two outs when he gets up that I’m going to get an at-bat that inning. He’s going to work the pitcher and he never gives up an at-bat. I’ve always been super impressed with him and his growth this year has been special to watch.

“He’s a great table-setter for us.”

In four games this season, Malloy is 3 for 12 with two doubles, four runs and six walks.

“He knows the strike zone but he’s not a take artist,” Hinch said. “He’s a really good hitter. Some of that comes with aggressiveness, some of it comes with patience and some is a mixture of both. He’s putting up really good at-bats.”

Malloy’s plate discipline was lauded even before he made his debut last season but, as Hinch often points out, there’s more to his offensive profile than drawing walks.

“When a guy controls the zone the way he does, there becomes this infatuation with walks,” Hinch said. “Walks are a byproduct of exactly what he’s trying to do, which is to get a good pitch to hit and hit it. The first pitch he saw today he ambushed it for a double.

“I’m proud of him because his identity gets morphed into a couple of different hitters. But he’s dangerous.”

The Tigers were up 7-1 after three innings, producing seven hits off White Sox right-hander Davis Martin, with the middle of the order doing major damage. Carpenter had the two-run homer. Spencer Torkelson doubled and hit his second homer of the season. Riley Greene was 2 for 4 with a run and an RBI.

“Can we do that all year, just sign up for a two-spot in the first couple of innings and see a couple hundred pitches,” Hinch said. “There’s confidence that grows with that and there’s an identity and belief that comes when you do it a couple of games in a row.”

The White Sox contributed to their own demise in this one, as well.

The three-run third inning was ignited by Torkelson’s homer, but Martin put more meat on the table by walking Colt Keith and hitting Andy Ibáñez.

After Jake Rogers singled to load the bases, still no outs, Trey Sweeney hit a ground ball to first baseman Andrew Vaughn. Vaughn fielded it going to his right and threw home to catcher Korey Lee.

Problem: Lee was standing a few feet in front of the plate, expecting Vaughn to throw to second base and start a potential double play. It was a gift run for the Tigers and extended the inning, allowing Malloy to cap it with a sacrifice fly.

“Any win in the big leagues is awesome,” Carpenter said. “We’ve won four out of five and have a lot of good momentum. Beating teams in our division, beating good teams and hanging with the Dodgers like we did, we feel real confident right now.”

The run-cushion was beneficial because it was day of grind and labor for Tigers starter Reese Olson.

“I think that this was the first time I’ve managed Reese when almost every inning he came in shaking his head mad about something,” Hinch said. “Reese doesn’t get mad often but he didn’t execute at his best today.”

On another cold (46 degrees at game time) and damp day at Comerica Park, Olson’s velocity and spin rates were down on all of his pitches and he struggled to keep them in the strike zone.

“Didn’t feel great mechanically today,” Olson said. “It’s something I’m not worried about. It’s something that’s frustrating to deal with during the game, but I’m happy the way I dealt with it.”

To his credit, Olson soldiered through six innings and made a quality start out of it, allowing two runs and seven hits with three walks.

“I kind of fought and grinded through the outing,” Olson said “But I know the guys (pitching coaches) will have something for me tomorrow and we’ll work on it all week and get back on track for the next start.”

He got some good help from his defense, especially Ibáñez at third base. Ibáñez got Olson out of the second inning, making a diving stop and then starting a 5-4-3 double play from his knees on a ball hit by Jacob Amaya.

It was important play ending Olson’s inning in 11 pitches after he endured a 25-pitch first inning.

“That first inning was key for us to get out of,” Hinch said. “If Reese doesn’t do his part to limit the mess, all of a sudden it’s 2-0, 3-0. We’re playing the infield in with runners at second and third with one out, that inning could’ve been so different if Reese doesn’t lock it in. That was nice to see.”

With the bases loaded and no outs in the fifth, Ibáñez turned a 5-3 double play on a ground ball hit by Luis Robert, Jr., helped by a superb scoop by Torkelson at first.

The White Sox erased a scoring chance for themselves with some foggy-headed baserunning in the fourth inning. Down by six runs, they had runners on first and second with two outs.

Tigers’ catcher Rogers, on the first pitch to Lee, threw a dart to first base and picked off Brooks Baldwin.

“It’s nice to get these wins at home and stack these wins together,” Carpenter said. “We need to keep it going.”

With back-to-back series wins under their belts, the Tigers will go for the sweep Sunday with rookie Jackson Jobe getting the start.

SEATTLE (AP) — Riley Greene homered and Javier Báez hit a two-run double in Detroit’s six-run first inning, helping the Tigers beat the Seattle Mariners 9-6 on Monday night for their first victory of the season.

Báez, Dillon Dingler and Trey Sweeney each had three of Detroit’s 18 hits. Kerry Carpenter had two hits and two RBIs.

The Tigers were swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers in their season-opening series.

Randy Arozarena, Cal Raleigh and Luke Raley homered for Seattle. Julio Rodríguez had two hits and scored two runs.

Mariners right-hander Emerson Hancock (0-1) recorded just two outs before he was pulled.

Carpenter singled in Justin-Henry Malloy, and Greene hit a solo drive for his first homer of the season. Dingler and Sweeney each hit an RBI single before Baez chased Hancock with his first double of the year.

Tigers rookie Jackson Jobe permitted three runs and three hits in four innings in his first career start. He struck out three and walked four.

Tyler Holton (1-0) got the win, and Brant Hurter pitched three innings for the save.

Key moment

Baez’s first-inning double broke the game wide open. Hancock was one strike away from getting out of the inning, but Baez’s hit went off the wall in left.

Key stat

Eight players had at least one hit for Detroit.

Up next

Tigers right-hander Casey Mize will start Tuesday against Seattle ace Logan Gilbert (0-0, 1.29 ERA).

— By SHANE LANTZ, Associated Press

DETROIT ― The writing is off the wall.

The large script “Tigers” signage that long has sat high atop the left-field scoreboard at Comerica Park has been taken down, and it’s set to be replaced by Opening Day with signage that bears the name of Detroit’s ballpark.

The Tigers confirmed the change Monday, saying the script “Tigers” signage, which could be illuminated with different colors but mostly was orange and black like Tigers stripes, “had reached its mechanical end of life.” Signage that reads “Comerica Park,” in white lettering with “Comerica” in bigger letters than “Park,” now will take over that prime real estate atop the scoreboard, between two light towers and two Tigers statues.

“Comerica Park” was spelled out on the scoreboard, above the videoboard and below “Tigers” signage (“Tigers” signage was first big, block letters, before being replaced by the script version), when the ballpark opened in 2000, and it was there through 2023. Before the 2024 season, the Tigers introduced a larger, state-of-the-art videoboard; the new screens, which take up more than 15,000 square feet, ended up monopolizing the space ― the border of the old, smaller videoboard ― where “Comerica Park” used to be spelled out.

“With the added branding and video capabilities that have been created by the new videoboard, the sign will revert to its original display of the ballpark’s name, as is customary throughout ballparks in Major League Baseball,” the Tigers said in a statement to The News on Monday.

In 1998, two years before the ballpark opened, Comerica Bank, founded in Detroit in the 1800s but now headquartered in Dallas, reportedly paid $66 million for 30 years of naming rights. The contract was reportedly extended in recent years, and runs through at least 2034. For naming rights, companies expect to meet a certain threshold of brand visibility. “Comerica Park” signage will be exposed to millions of eyeballs in 2025, in person and on TV broadcasts.

The Tigers have made numerous changes to Comerica Park in recent years, including the upgraded videoboard, as well as upgrades to the ballpark’s sound system and lighting. Out of view of fans, the Tigers also have upgraded the team plane, locker rooms, weight rooms and dining facilities.

This season, the Tigers are set to introduce new, uber-luxury box seats behind home plate, between the first- and third-base dugouts. The seats are wider, cushier and can be heated or cooled, they come with in-seat service, and are being sold starting with the home opener, Friday, April 4, even as the area remains under construction. The Home Plate Club, a private bar and dining area with private bathrooms for the ticket-holders of those luxury seats, is scheduled to open at some point during the 2025 season, and is being constructed under the stands. The Tigers haven’t publicly disclosed the cost of the new luxury seats, which will include parking and a private park entrance for ticket-holders.