It’s all fun and games until the Tigers bullpen comes into the game.
What looked like it was going to be deja vu of the entire season turned into one last, edge-of-your-seat, entertaining baseball game.
Despite their record, the Tigers gave everything they had in a roller-coaster-filled 12-inning win over the Minnesota Twins.
Detroit improves to 64-75.
The Tigers built a 5-1 lead, watched it disappear, took another lead, watched that disappear, and somehow found a way to score five runs in the 12th inning to finally put the game away.
And while the bullpen nearly turned another Tigers victory into a gut-punching loss, Detroit’s young players continued to show exactly why there is plenty to be excited about moving forward.
The Great: A Late-Night Tork Bomb
Spencer Torkelson didn’t even start the game.
He came in as a pinch hitter and went 0-for-3.
But baseball is a funny sport.
With one swing of the bat at 11:30 p.m. ET in the 12th inning, Torkelson became the hero of the night.
With a 1-0 count, Torkelson ripped a hanging off-speed pitch over the left-field wall for his 21st home run of the season.
Just like that, Detroit had an 8-6 lead.
After everything the Tigers had endured throughout the night, they finally had the cushion they needed.
And Torkelson provided the biggest swing of the game.
The Good: The Future Is Bright
The youth of the Tigers continues to get opportunities at the end of the season, which is exactly what should be happening.
With Detroit all but out of the playoff picture, now is the time to see what the young players have in their bags.
And once again, they delivered.
It’s a youth wave in Detroit, and these players continue to impress as they have all season long.
John Peck recorded his first-ever Major League hit, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
With two runners on and one out in the second inning, you could almost feel every heartbeat from Peck and his friends and family in the stands.
After being beaten twice by fastballs at the top of the strike zone, Peck finally caught up to one and drove it with authority into the left-field gap.
Peck landed on second base with a two-RBI double for his first Major League hit, giving Detroit a 2-0 lead.
And he wasn’t finished.
In the sixth inning, Peck drove in fellow rookie Max Clark for the second time in the game and picked up his third career RBI with his second career hit.
Peck slapped a single into the opposite field, past a diving first baseman and down the right-field line. Clark scored easily, giving Detroit a 5-1 lead at the time.
Eduardo Valencia was another rookie who shot out of a cannon.
Valencia scored on the Peck double and followed that up with a rocket into the right-field gap in the fourth inning. The ball bounced off the wall for a double, continuing what was an impressive night from Detroit’s young hitters.
Another rookie, Hao-Yu Lee, got in on the action in the fifth inning.
Lee drove in fellow rookie Kevin McGonigle when he shot a single up the middle, sneaking it under the glove of the pitcher.
McGonigle had reached second after swiping the base on a ball in the dirt, followed by a bad throw from the Twins catcher. He scored easily on Lee’s hit, giving Detroit a 3-1 lead.
Lee eventually came around to score after a pitching change when Riley Greene finally provided some veteran help.
Greene smashed a ball into the right-field gap for an RBI double, extending Detroit’s lead to 4-1.
And then there was Max Clark.
Clark was on fire throughout the night, going 3-for-4 with a walk.
He consistently found ways to get on base in front of Peck, and Peck rewarded him twice by bringing him home.
Clark also delivered one of the biggest hits of the night in the 11th inning.
After the Tigers bullpen performed another disappearing act and allowed Minnesota to erase the lead, Clark addressed the situation himself.
With Ben Malgeri starting the inning at second base, Clark ripped a double that brought him home and gave Detroit a 6-5 lead.
Unfortunately, the lead wouldn’t last.
But Clark once again showed why the future of the Tigers is so exciting.
Javier Báez, perhaps the most opposite thing from youthful on the Tigers roster, also earned his way into the good department.
With the bases loaded in the 12th inning and Detroit having just regained a two-run lead, Báez dropped a soft blooper just out of the first baseman’s reach.
The ball fell.
The bases cleared.
And suddenly, Detroit had a five-run lead after scoring five times in the 12th.
That was finally enough to put the game away.
The Good: Anderson Sets the Tone
Drew Anderson got the bump for Detroit and pitched very well early in the game.
Through his first three innings, Anderson allowed just one walk and one hit batter while recording the first nine outs.
In the fourth, after walking the leadoff hitter, Minnesota finally recorded its first hit of the game.
It was a laser down the left-field line that scored the runner from first with nobody out and a runner on second.
But Anderson immediately settled back in.
He recorded the next two outs and struck out the final batter of the inning, keeping Detroit ahead by one run.
Anderson continued his strong outing through 5.2 innings.
He left the game having allowed just two hits, one run and two walks while striking out five.
With two outs in the fifth, it looked like Anderson was going to cruise through the inning.
But an error by McGonigle kept the inning alive, and Minnesota nearly made Detroit pay.
Anderson eventually left with runners on second and third and two outs.
Tyler Kinley came on in relief and immediately got the ground ball back to himself that he needed to end the threat.
And for a while, it looked like Detroit was in complete control.
Then the bullpen happened.
The Bad: The Bullpen
The eighth inning is where things got real dicey for the Tigers.
Drew Sommers entered as the setup man but couldn’t handle the duties, allowing two hits and hitting a batter while recording just one out.
That brought Kenley Jansen into the game with the bases loaded.
In a season where Detroit has struggled to protect leads, the tension was obvious.
The Tigers entered the game ranked 30th in MLB in losses after leading through six innings, with 17 such losses. They were also ranked 30th in wins when the game was tied at any point from the sixth inning onward, with just three such wins.
Suffice to say, Tigers fans had every reason to be nervous.
Jansen walked the first batter he faced, allowing Minnesota to pull within two runs at 5-3.
The bases remained loaded with one out.
Then Jansen got the double-play ball the Tigers desperately needed.
The only problem?
Peck, the star of the night to that point, stabbed at a ball heading to his left at shortstop but couldn’t make the play.
Two runs scored.
The Twins tied the game at 5-5.
And there was still just one out with runners on second and third.
Thankfully, the bleeding stopped there.
But the Tigers’ 5-1 lead had disappeared.
Instead of heading into the ninth inning with a four-run advantage, Detroit was right back where it started.
Tied.
Then, in the 11th inning, Detroit managed to take another lead.
And once again, the bullpen couldn’t hold it.
Kyle Finnegan entered the game with the Tigers leading and was tasked with closing things out.
The $19 million reliever allowed a hit with one out and a runner on third, bringing the tying run home and making it 6-6.
Once again, the Tigers had watched another lead disappear.
At that point, it felt like the game was destined to end in heartbreak.
Instead, Detroit’s youth and one late-night Tork bomb changed everything.
Finnegan was back on the mound in the bottom of the 12th, this time tasked with protecting a five-run lead.
Thankfully, he got the job done.
And after a night filled with blown leads, clutch hits, defensive miscues and a bullpen roller coaster, the Tigers finally had their win.
It wasn’t pretty.
It certainly wasn’t easy.
But it was entertaining.
And perhaps most importantly, Detroit got another look at the young players who could be a major part of its future.
John Peck got his first Major League hit.
Max Clark continued to show why he is one of the most exciting young players in the organization.
Hao-Yu Lee and Eduardo Valencia contributed.
And when Detroit needed one final swing to save the night, Torkelson delivered.
The Tigers are 64-75, and their playoff hopes are essentially gone.
But nights like this are about more than the standings.
They’re about finding out what Detroit has moving forward.
And if this group of young players continues developing the way it has, the future may be much brighter than the current record suggests.