Detroit Tigers come alive in 8th inning for 4-3 win over Minnesota Twins to split series

Another game, another comeback win.

The Detroit Tigers continue to struggle in the run-scoring department, especially throughout the early innings, but the ongoing issue hasn't deterred the 13 position players. The never-quit effort was on display again Sunday, as the Tigers scored four runs in the eighth inning to suddenly take the lead.

Those four runs were just enough for the Tigers — winners in five of six one-run games this season — to beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-3, in Sunday's series finale at Comerica Park. Spencer Torkelson drove in the game-winning run with a bloop single to shallow right-center field.

It marked A.J. Hinch's 800th win as a 10-year MLB manager.

"These wins are hard to come by at this level," said Hinch, the 83rd of nearly 850 managers in history to win 800 games. "I've been so fortunate to have opportunities to be a leader and be a manager. I'll take any win, but this win means a little more."

The Tigers and Twins, projected to finish at the top of the American League Central, split the four-game set.

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The Tigers (9-6) once again received a solid performance from their starting pitcher, a positive trend this season. Right-hander Jack Flaherty allowed three runs on six hits and two walks with eight strikeouts across 6⅓ innings, throwing 100 pitches.

Flaherty threw 47 pitches in the first two innings, in which he gave up two of the three runs, then he settled down to throw just 53 pitches over his final 4⅓ innings.

"It starts with Javy, with the huge swing," Flaherty said. "From there, the guys just continued to tack on. Up and down, everybody contributed. That's tough, down three in the eighth. To come away and win a game like that? Those are the ones that you'll enjoy for the entire year."

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The Tigers never had a breakthrough on offense against Twins right-hander Bailey Ober, who tossed six-plus scoreless innings with three strikeouts. He allowed just three hits and didn't walk any batters in his 84-pitch outing.

Late-inning heroics

But the breakthrough finally happened in the eighth inning, thanks to Javier Báez's solo home run off left-handed reliever Caleb Thielbar.

The homer to left field cut the deficit to 3-1.

It was Báez's first of the season.

"Finally got one," Báez said.

"I'm still working," he continued. "Today, I feel good, and yesterday, I felt good too. I just got to be consistent with that and take it out there. I've been thinking too much and trying to do too much, but once I slow everything down, it should be good. ... Everybody around here keeps telling me, you're really close, you're really close. I'll keep working, trying to get better and come back tomorrow to do it again."

Back-to-back singles from Carson Kelly and Riley Greene kept the pressure on the Twins and led to a pitching change, still with one out in the eighth inning. Mark Canha met right-handed reliever Griffin Jax by lucking into a two-run double that deflected off third baseman Kyle Famer, and because of the deflection, the ball rolled into the left-field corner.

It should have been ruled an error.

Still, Canha's double scored both runners and knotted the score at 3-3. He advanced to third base on the unnecessary throw home from the left fielder. It was smart base-running from a veteran player, a reminder of how Canha is teaching the young Tigers with his play, not necessarily his words.

"It's so many little things that lead into being a complete player," Hinch said. "In the outfield, the way he communicates. The base hit to right center, he's holding his hand up making sure Parker doesn't come hell-bent to catch it. He was behind it. In the big scheme of things, nothing that you guys are going to write about or I usually don't talk about, but it's the small things that leads him into being a complete player. Base-running matters."

Torkelson put the Tigers in front, 4-3, with his single off Jax's down-and-away sweeper. The sweeper ended up outside of the strike zone, but Torkelson made contact. He hit the ball with a 62.1 mph exit velocity, and once the ball dropped in for a bloop single, Canha scored from third base.

It was Torkelson's sixth hit with runners in scoring position this season.

"In a situation like that, I feel like umpires love a Strike 3 more than a Ball 4," Torkelson said. "So you have to play with that outer edge, whether it's a ball off, a ball in a half. Especially with his stuff, he's not going to give you much to hit, so I think you got to play out there with him and keep it simple. That's not an at-bat where you go for a homer."

Right-handed reliever Jason Foley walked Matt Wallner and Edouard Julien with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, but he dispatched Ryan Jeffers with a vintage groundout to finish the game.

Foley notched his fourth save in as many chances.

Jack Flaherty battles

Flaherty wasn't perfect.

But he was pretty good in his third start of the season.

"As the game went on, his body got moving a little faster, his fastball got better, his confidence landing his breaking ball got better," Hinch said. "He really wanted to go out for the seventh. We needed as many innings as we could."

He worked around two singles in the first inning, but he didn't have the same luck in the second inning. He opened the second inning with a leadoff walk to Carlos Santana, and with two outs, Famer singled and Julien walked. Those three batters loaded the bases for Jeffers.

Jeffers delivered a two-run single for a 2-0 lead in the first inning.

SUNDAY'S NOTEBOOK:Tigers' Andy Ibáñez on road to health; Spencer Torkelson's decisions at first base

Flaherty retired all three batters in the third inning, and he sent down three of four batters in the fourth inning. The only blemish in those innings: Christian Vázquez hit a hanging slider to left-center field for a solo home run.

The homer put the Twins ahead, 3-0.

"Jack really set a good tone," Hinch said, "even thought I know he didn't get into the game perfectly. He held his own and became more dominant."

Flaherty hit the first batter he faced in the seventh inning, and after striking out Julien, the Tigers replaced him with right-handed reliever Will Vest. The runner was stranded by Vest with back-to-back outs to complete the seventh.

As for Flaherty, he generated 16 whiffs (on 45 swings) with five fastballs, seven sliders and four knuckle curves. His fastball averaged 94.1 mph and maxed out at 96.9 mph.

"I just started moving better," Flaherty said of his improvement after the second inning. "For the most part, I felt like I made some good pitches. At some point there, you just start ripping it. It was one of those things. I started moving better and got a little pissed off, but I was able to translate it in the right way. Not being mad pissed off, but using it the right way."

Before the comeback

Before the eighth inning, the Tigers showed signs of life in the seventh inning.

Torkelson, who still hasn't hit a home run, hammered Ober's 10th pitch — an up-and-in fastball — for a double to left field. The leadoff extra-base hit chased Ober. Right-handed reliever Brock Stewart replaced Ober, only to walk Kerry Carpenter on five pitches.

"Something positive on the offensive side," Hinch said. "We feel it. We know what's going on. We know how tough it's been recently. You try your best to block it all out, and then you need something positive to happen. You can preach patience, stay positive and all those things, but you actually need hits in order to feel good as a major-league hitter."

The next batter, Colt Keith, grounded into a force out, leaving runners at first base and second base with one out. The Tigers failed to score a single run because Gio Urshela grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Urshela hit a bouncer back to Stewart.

Before the seventh, Greene hit a leadoff double in the first inning and Urshela hit a single in the second inning. After that, the Tigers didn't get another baserunner until Torkelson's double.

"He wasn't missing," Torkelson said of Ober. "We had a good plan going in, but we expanded away. He wasn't giving us anything really good to hit. Even the ball I hit wasn't a good pitch to hit, I just got the bat to it. Next time, it's just getting the ball close to us, waiting out those mistakes and taking our walks."

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

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