The 21,529 fans in attendance came to Comerica Park on Thursday to see Miguel Cabrera make history with his 3,000th hit.
Although that didn’t happen, they received a consolation prize, watching the Detroit Tigers (5-7) end their three-game losing streak by salvaging the final game of the series from the New York Yankees with a 3-0 win.
While the focus of the day, naturally, was Cabrera — he went 0–for-3 with two strikeouts and an intentional walk, leaving him at 2,999 hits — it was right-hander Michael Pineda who put on a show in his Tigers debut.
The veteran starter was recalled from Triple-A Toledo prior to the contest; he looked much more like the pitcher he was in the final month of 2021, when he went 5-0 with a 1.85 ERA in 24⅓ innings, than his two starts with the Mud Hens (0-1 with six runs allowed in 4⅓ innings).
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On Thursday, Pineda threw five scoreless innings, scattering three hits with no walks and two strikeouts, while firing 40 strikes on 60 pitches.
Pineda, who pitched for the Yankees from 2014-17 before spending 2019-21 with the Minnesota Twins, faced just one jam on the day. After giving up a single to lead off the fifth to DJ LeMahieu and another to Isiah Kiner-Falefa on a hit-and-run, he faced runners at the corners.
But “Big Mike” pitched out of it, inducing a weak fly ball to right field off the bat of Marwin Gonzalez, then getting a running grab in center from Victor Reyes — the ball had an exit velocity of 103.3 mph, an expected batting average of .880, according to MLB’s Statcast.
The Tigers’ first run came in the third inning. After Willi Castro reached on a single, Reyes replaced him on first after a fielder’s choice. That brought Robbie Grossman to the plate, who roped a double to the left-field wall, scoring Reyes.
The score stayed there into the eight inning, despite a jam for the Tigers’ bullpen. Alex Lange opened the inning and gave up two singles and a walk, to load the bases with one out. Manager AJ Hinch brought on Gregory Soto.
The lefty was efficient, getting a chopper from Anthony Rizzo for a force out at the plate, then getting Giancarlo Stanton to ground out to first baseman Spencer Torkelson.
Detroit came to bat in the bottom of the ining, and the first three runners reached — on a Reyes double, a Grossman single and a Jonathan Schoop walk to load the bases with no outs.
Jeimer Candelario then grounded back to the pitcher to start a 1-2-3 double play, ;leaving runners on second and third and first base open.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone decided to intentionally walk Miguel Cabrera and the fans were livid, all on their feet alternating boos with chants of “Yankees suck!” and “Overrated!”
But Austin Meadows came through, blooping in a two-run double to give Detroit a 3-0 lead.
Soto gave up a one-out single in the ninth, then induced a double play to finish the five-out save.
Grossman breaks out
Grossman is one of several Tigers who had been scuffling to start the season, entering Thursday 4-for-28 with just two RBIs.
He nearly matched that on Thursday, reaching base in all four plate appearances — he went 3-for-3 with an RBI double (his first extra-base hit of the season) and two singles.
Grossman is far from the only Tiger struggling at the plate; Detroit has scored three runs or fewer in nine of its 12 games this season.
After going four consecutive games without a hit and then missing a handful more with a groin injury, Grossman has hits in four consecutive games.
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism