Detroit Tigers support Matt Manning with four home runs but lose, 10-5, to New York Mets

LAKELAND, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers lost to the New York Mets, 10-5, on Thursday at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium.

The Tigers are 16-9-3 in Grapefruit League play.

What happened

Right-hander Matt Manning should have been out of the fourth inning.

With two outs, shortstop Javier Báez — charged with a throwing error — made a sliding stop up the middle to keep a ground ball from sneaking into the outfield, but he threw the ball in the dirt and first baseman Spencer Torkelson couldn't scoop it cleanly. The next batter, Brett Baty, blasted a two-strike curveball from Manning for a two-run home run in the fourth inning.

Manning allowed three runs (one earned run) on three hits and three walks with four strikeouts across four-plus innings, throwing 48 of 77 pitches for strikes. The 26-year-old, competing for a spot in the Tigers' starting rotation, generated 11 whiffs on 35 swings with two fastballs, six sliders and three curveballs.

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The defensive miscue from Báez and Torkelson, which led to Baty's two-run homer, didn't immediately doom the Tigers on the scoreboard. That's because the Tigers crushed the Mets with four home runs of their own.

Colt Keith, a 22-year-old top prospect, launched his first home run of spring training in the second inning. He turned on a down-and-in cutter from right-hander Dominic Hamel — ranked as the Mets' No. 14 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline — with a 110.1 mph exit velocity.

The ball bounced off the light tower in right field.

Keith put the Tigers ahead, 2-0.

Starting off

Manning pitched into the fifth inning, but he walked the only two batters he faced in the fifth. Right-handed reliever Beau Brieske replaced him and bailed him out by retiring three batters in a row — Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso, Mark Vientos — to escape the two-on, no-out jam.

Still, Manning looked sharp.

He gave up two home runs, but the second one took place after an unfortunate two-out throwing error. The first homer, however, occurred on an elevated fastball to Harrison Bader with two outs in the third inning.

Bader took Manning deep to left-center field.

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Manning struck out four batters: Jeff McNeil (called strike, 95.4 mph fastball), Ji Man Choi (swinging strike, 79.5 mph curveball), Francisco Alvarez (swinging strike, 87 mph slider) and Choi (swinging strike, 95.6 mph fastball).

He threw 37 four-seam fastballs, 27 sliders, seven curveballs and six changeups. He only threw seven curveballs, but the 79 mph breaking ball was responsible for three of his 11 whiffs and two of his 13 called strikes.

Manning averaged 94.3 mph with his fastball.

At the plate

Parker Meadows, the Tigers' leadoff hitter, kickstarted the four home runs with a solo home run in the first inning, hitting a third-pitch changeup from Hamel to right-center field with a 104.3 mph exit velocity.

It was Meadows' third homer this spring.

In the top of the third inning, Meadows covered 74 feet in center field — traveling 26.6 feet per second — to catch a sharp line drive off Baty's bat. The ball in play had a .540 expected batting average, but it seemed like an easy out with Meadows working in center field.

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The Tigers tacked on two more home runs in the bottom of the third inning.

Riley Greene decided to swing at a 3-0 pitch, a middle-down fastball, and launched his first home run of spring training the opposite way to left-center field. Kerry Carpenter joined the party with an opposite-field homer to left field off Hamel's middle-middle fastball, his second homer this spring.

Both Greene and Carpenter received some help from the wind blowing to left field.

The Tigers scored their fifth and final run on a wild pitch in the eighth inning.

On the mound

After Brieske bailed out Manning in the fifth inning, he took care of business in the sixth against Starling Marte, Alvarez and Baty.

Brieske struck out Marte swinging with a down-and-away 85.9 mph changeup in a right-on-right matchup. He then struck out Alvarez, another right-handed hitter, swinging with an elevated 97.3 mph fastball. Baty, a left-handed hitter, grounded out on a changeup at the bottom of the strike zone.

Brieske, who threw 15 of 20 pitches for strikes, is competing for one of the final spots in the bullpen.

The Tigers also used right-hander Alex Lange and right-hander Drew Anderson out of the bullpen. Lange completed a scoreless seventh inning with two strikeouts, but Anderson loaded the bases before Alvarez's two-run single in the eighth inning. The two-run single put the Mets ahead, 5-4.

Anderson gave up two runs on three hits and one walk, only getting one out.

Right-handed reliever RJ Petit, from minor-league camp, walked the first batter he faced with the bases loaded, making it 6-4, but he responded by striking out Bader on three pitches. But Zack Short, an ex-Tiger, hammered a first-pitch slider for a grand slam. His first homer of the spring increased the Mets' lead to 10-4.

The Mets scored seven runs in the eighth inning.

Three stars

1. Brieske, 2. Keith, 3. Manning.

Next up

Friday (1:05 p.m.) vs. Philadelphia Phillies in Clearwater.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers support Matt Manning but lose, 10-5, to New York Mets