Read the Tigers side (the whole game, score included)
Minnesota at Detroit
This is Missed It. Minnesota at Detroit, Tuesday, September 8, 78 and partly cloudy at Comerica Park, with the Tigers. You missed it? Here's the whole game, as it happened.
Pregame
It's a crisp evening in Detroit, and we've got a good one on our hands. The Minnesota Twins are in town to take on our Detroit Tigers. The stage is set, the bats are ready, and the crowd is buzzing. First pitch is moments away, and we're about to see ninety feet at a time decide this thing. Let's play ball.
Innings 1-3
Top of the first, and the Twins are already making noise. One out, two on, and the tension is building. Ryan Jeffers works a walk, and just like that, the bases are loaded. Brooks Lee is perched on third, Kody Clemens on second, and the Tigers are in a jam. The crowd is on its feet, trying to will a strikeout, trying to will a double play. But Josh Bell steps in, and he sends one deep enough to left field. Brett Callahan settles under it, makes the catch, and Brooks Lee tags and trots home. The Twins strike first. One to nothing, Minnesota. But we don't hang our heads. Bottom of the first, and Kevin McGonigle leads things off by reaching base. Then Gleyber Torres steps in, and he rips a line drive to left field, past Trevor Larnach, and McGonigle motors to second. Two on, nobody out, and the crowd is roaring. This is exactly what we needed. But then Colt Keith steps in, and he lines one right at the first baseman. Royce Lewis snags it, steps on the bag, fires to short. Kevin McGonigle is caught off second, and just like that, the rally is snuffed out. A double play. The air goes out of the park. We get nothing in the first. Second inning, both sides go quietly. Three up, three down for Minnesota, and we match them. Nothing doing. Still one to nothing. Third inning, and the Twins get a little something going. Luke Keaschall, with nobody out and nobody on, smokes a ground ball down the left field line. Brett Callahan gives chase, but it's off the wall. A double. The Twins have a runner in scoring position with no outs. But our pitcher bears down, and the next three batters can't bring him home. We escape. Still one to nothing as we head to the bottom of the third. We come up in the bottom of the third, and we're looking for a spark. Four batters come to the plate, but we can't push anything across. The inning ends, and we're still chasing that first run. One to nothing, Twins, and we've got work to do.
Innings 4-6
Top of the fourth, and the Twins go down in order. Three batters, three outs. We're keeping it close, and that's all we can ask for. Bottom of the fourth, and we go down in order too. Three batters, three outs. This game is moving fast, and we're running out of chances to get that first run on the board. Top of the fifth, and Minnesota goes quietly again. Three up, three down. Now it's our turn. Bottom of the fifth, and we've got something cooking. Two outs, and Zach McKinstry is on base. Kevin McGonigle steps to the plate, and the crowd is on its feet. The count is set, the pitch comes in, and McGonigle gets all of it. He sends a fly ball to left field, and it just keeps carrying. It's gone. A two-run homer. Zach McKinstry scores, Kevin McGonigle scores, and the Tigers take the lead. Two to one, Detroit. The park erupts. That's the swing we've been waiting for. But the Twins answer right back. Top of the sixth, and Luke Keaschall is on base with one out. Kody Clemens steps in, and he gets a pitch he likes. He sends it to right center field, and it's gone. A two-run homer. Luke Keaschall scores, Kody Clemens scores, and just like that, the Twins are back on top. Three to two, Minnesota. The lead we worked so hard to grab is gone. Bottom of the sixth, and we need an answer. Three batters come up, and we can't get anything going. The inning ends, and we're still down by one. Three to two, Twins, and we've got three innings left to find a way.
The Stretch
So here we are at the break, down three to two. And the play that turned this half on its head was Kevin McGonigle's two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth. It gave us the lead, it gave us hope, and it felt like the moment we'd been waiting for all night. But the Twins answered right back, and now we're the ones chasing. We need the bats to wake up again. We need one more big swing, one more rally, one more chance to take this game back. Three innings left. Let's go.
The Sequence
Top of the seventh, and the Twins go down in order. Three batters, three outs. We're still within one, and the crowd is getting loud. Bottom of the seventh, and we need a spark. Ben Malgeri leads off and works a walk. There's a runner on first, nobody out, and the park is buzzing. This is our chance. But Hao-Yu Lee steps in and strikes out swinging. One down. Then Zach McKinstry steps in and lines out to left field, right at Kody Clemens. Two down. The inning fizzles out, and we're still down by one. Top of the eighth, and the Twins go quietly again. Three up, three down. We've got two innings left. Bottom of the eighth, and Kevin McGonigle leads off. He flies out to right field, right at Luke Keaschall. One down. The next two batters can't do anything either, and the inning ends. We're running out of time. Top of the ninth, and the Twins are looking to add on. Ryan Jeffers, with one out, rips a line drive to left field. Ben Malgeri gives chase, but it's off the wall. A double. The Twins have a runner in scoring position, and the pressure is on. But our pitcher bears down, and we get out of it. No damage. Still three to two. Bottom of the ninth. This is it. Three outs to tie it, or worse. Riley Greene steps to the plate, and the crowd is on its feet. The pitch comes in, and Greene swings and misses. Strike one. Another pitch, another swing and a miss. Strike two. The third pitch comes in, and Greene swings and misses. Strike three. He's out. The game is over. The Twins take it, three to two.
Wrap-up
And that's the ballgame. Three to two, Minnesota. We had our chances, we had our moments, and Kevin McGonigle gave us a lead we thought we could hold. But the Twins answered, and we couldn't find that final push. It's a tough one to swallow, but we keep fighting. We keep grinding. We'll get them tomorrow.
Outro
That was Minnesota at Detroit, from the Tigers side. This has been Missed It. Every game, both sides, at missed it dot net. Produced by James Barrett.