DETROIT — A clutch, game-tying single by rookie Riley Greene in the bottom of the ninth Tuesday night dissolved quickly into a nightmare 10th inning for the Tigers and a 6-4 win for the San Diego Padres — their first ever win in Detroit after seven straight losses spaced over 38 years.
All-Star closer Gregory Soto, after pitching a scoreless ninth, gave up three runs in the 10th without allowing a hit.
He put himself quickly in a bases-loaded mess. With a free runners at second to start the inning, he hit Jake Cronenworth and Manny Machado reached on a throwing error by shortstop Javier Báez.
Soto then drilled Luke Voit to force in a run. After he struck out Matthew Batten for the second out, Tigers' manager AJ Hinch brought in right-hander Jason Foley. Foley's first pitch was lined into right field by Jorge Alfaro — two-run single.
Three runs, all unearned because of the Báez error, one hit, one walk and two hit batsman — it was bad enough the fans who were still in the park were chanting, "Deetroit Basketball."
For a while there it looked like a replay of an old Cleveland-Detroit game from 2018 or 2019 with herky-jerky right-hander Mike Clevinger carving up Tigers’ hitters.
He rolled through the first six innings allowing three hits and getting a lot of softly-struck outs. The only difference was the uniform. Clevinger, 19 months removed from Tommy John surgery, pitches for the Padres now and he took a 3-0 lead into the seventh inning.
But Jeimer Candelario got him in the seventh. Miguel Cabrera led off with a double into the corner in left. It was his 606th career double, moving him into a tie with Paul Waner for 14th all-time.
Candelario, who hit two homers on Monday, lined a 2-0 cutter into the seats in right field. For all his offensive struggles through the first four months, he now leads the team with 10 home runs.
Then in the ninth, against another former Central Division nemesis, former Twin Taylor Rogers, rookie Greene lined a two-out, two-strike single to right field to score Willi Castro from second base — 3-3.
Impressive at-bat by Greene, a left-handed hitter against the lefty Rogers. Castro had started the inning with a single. And with two outs, pinch-hitter Robbie Grossman worked a walk.
That ended up being the last hurrah for the Tigers.
It was a grind for Tigers’ rookie starter Garrett Hill, but he scratched and clawed his way through five innings. He was living on the fringes of the strike zone and the Padres hitters were patient, drawing four walks and pushing his pitch count to 68 after three innings.
All the damage, though, came with two outs in the third. Voit, who just missed a home run in the first inning, drove a two-run double off the top of the padded wall in center field, just out of the reach of Greene.
After a walk to Eric Hosmer, Alfaro hit another ball over Greene’s head in center, this one an RBI ground-rule double. Had the ball not bounced into the shrubs, two runs would’ve scored.
Hill, who only got four swings-and-misses and two strikeouts, set down seven of the last eight batters he faced.
The Tigers' bullpen, until the 10th, was stellar. Scoreless innings by Alex Lange, Jose Cisnero, Michael Fulmer and Soto kept the Padres' run total at three through nine innings.
