DETROIT -- The booming sound system at Comerica Park, which sends out thumping beats during Tigers games, had a smoother tone Sunday afternoon as kids finished running the bases. Bob Marley’s “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright” serenaded the grounds crew as they began their postgame work, but after Detroit's 10-4 win over the Blue Jays, the song could’ve fit just as well in the clubhouse.
The Tigers had been looking for any spark to help lift them out of their funk. Kerry Carpenter returned from his rehab assignment with Triple-A Toledo. Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson grew mustaches. They briefly experimented with a home-run celebration earlier in the week.
“Generally speaking, we’re willing to do anything,” manager A.J. Hinch said before the Tigers’ second six-game losing streak this month ended. “I can’t grow [a mustache] fast enough, but I see our boys are resorting to desperate times/desperate measures.”
They knew they were going to win again at some point. Still, as Gleyber Torres’ opposite-field loft off Max Scherzer cleared the fence, the sense of emotion was unmistakable.
Scherzer, the former Tigers All-Star and Cy Young winner, was a pitch away from escaping the third-inning jam and leaving the Tigers wondering what else could go wrong. Dillon Dingler’s single and Parker Meadows’ double put runners at second and third with nobody out, the kind of situation on which the Tigers feasted early in the season. But Javier Báez’s first-pitch fly ball to right wasn’t deep enough. Colt Keith’s blooper on the next pitch might have fallen in if not for an over-the-shoulder grab from Tiger tormentor Bo Bichette.
Torres took a first-pitch curveball below the zone, but attacked the ensuing 95 mph fastball over the middle. The result was headed right where the right-field wall gets deeper and fly balls go to die. Scherzer, well-versed with the spacious dimensions, seemed unsure.
Then the Statcast-projected 403-foot launch landed in the seats.
“That’s what we’ve been missing the past few games,” Dingler said. “We’ve been missing the big hit in a moment where there’s a couple guys on base. That’s what we do. When we’re going well, that big hit happens. It was great to see it go over.”
The Tigers had scored first in the first two games of the series, but with single runs both times. Torres’ 10th homer of the season marked the Tigers’ first three-run lead since July 7.
“It felt like we hadn’t seen that in a while, right? Like, we’ve really had a hard time showing our identity and what we’re about when you’re not collecting hits,” Hinch said. “That inning sort of illustrates what these last couple weeks have felt like. Leadoff single by Dingler, Parker gets the double, two quick at-bats that are frustrating, and then Gleyber with the big blow. The inning’s not over because you struggled in the two at-bats prior to that.”
Likewise, the game wasn’t over just because the Tigers put up a big hit. Scherzer retired his final 13 batters from there, finishing with 11 strikeouts over seven quality innings while pumping 95 mph fastballs on his 41st birthday. The Blue Jays, meanwhile, kept threatening Tigers starter Jack Flaherty, including Bichette singles on at-bats of nine, seven and 10 pitches. Each time, Flaherty answered with big outs, including arguably his best slider of the season and a fastball that picked up speed when he needed it most.
Five of Flaherty’s seven strikeouts came with a runner on base, including four to end innings. He followed Bichette’s one-out infield single in the sixth with back-to-back strikeouts of Addison Barger and Ernie Clement, the latter on Flaherty’s hardest pitch of the afternoon -- a 96.1 mph heater on his 106th and final pitch of the day.
“His ability to finish the outing was really important,” Hinch said.
Flaherty (6-10) became the second consecutive Tigers starter to shut down the Jays for six innings. Unlike Tarik Skubal a day earlier, Flaherty got run support, thanks to Torres’ big swing.
Once the Tigers added on with a seven-run eighth that included another Torres RBI, they could smile as much as breathe, reveling in their first home win since July 8 and their first double-digit tally since July 2.
“It’s not quite a weight lifted off the shoulders, because you still have to go out and perform,” Dingler said. “We’re a winning team, and we’re going to strive for that day. Obviously it was good to break the streak, but now we look forward.”
Said Torkelson: “It’s like when you haven’t gotten a hit in a while. Seeing one fall, sometimes that’s all it takes.”