PHOENIX — Kody Clemens was 4-for-34 when he stepped to the plate in the sixth inning of a 3-3 game Saturday night. There were two runners on and he was facing Arizona Diamondbacks lefty Joe Mantiply.
Clemens is a left-handed hitter and had only five at-bats against lefties in his brief time in the big leagues. Mantiply, on the other hand, had never allowed a home run to a left-handed hitter in 96 games.
Guess what happened.
Clemens launched a 1-2 curveball into the seats in right field, his first major league home run, breaking the tie and sending the Tigers to a 6-3 win over Arizona, their second straight at Chase Field.
It was a good night for the kids.
Rookie Riley Greene made a sensational catch in the sixth inning, taking an extra-base hit from Buddy Kennedy. The ball was smoked into the gap in right-center, leaving Kennedy’s bat at 99.8 mph. It traveled 349 feet and had an expected batting average, according to Statcast, of .470.
Greene tracked it into the gap and caught it on a full-layout, superman dive.
Later, in the seventh, Greene took a hit away from Josh Rojas with a sliding catch in short left-center.
Another rookie, Alex Faedo, made his 10th start of the season. How many had him making any big-league starts this year before say, August or September?
Put your hand down, you’re lying.
Faedo, in his first full year back from Tommy John surgery, didn’t throw live batting practice until the middle of February. He started his season at Low-A Lakeland. He only made one start (five innings), at Triple-A Toledo before the Tigers, with four-fifths of their rotation on the injured list, called him up.
Best to keep that perspective when assessing his four-inning performance Saturday.
He breezed through the first three innings, showing a lively slider and a four-seam fastball that was ticking up to 96 mph. Then in the fourth, he started spraying pitches and losing his balance on the mound.
He ended up walking two, giving up a 411-foot, two-run home run to David Peralta and an RBI double to Daulton Varsho. He got out of the inning without any more issues, but he was at 75 pitches and manager AJ Hinch gave him the quick hook.
Might need to get used to those.
“He’s coming off Tommy John,” Hinch said before the game. “Remember, he started in Lakeland. I think we have to give him a little leash here. I’m proud of him. He’s talented and he can do a lot of positive things here. But I’m always going to be monitoring him.”
Faedo was beaten up pretty good in two previous starts, allowing 11 runs and 17 hits in 7 1/3 innings, with hitters feasting on his four-seam fastball (.349, .628 slugging).
“He’s also been a little fatigued in my opinion,” Hinch said. “He won’t say it, but I will. As we freshen him up and get to the break, you’ll see a better fastball.”
The Tigers are going to be hard-pressed to freshen up any of their pitchers going into the break. Beginning Tuesday, they will play 19 games in 17 days. Tough task to get through that stretch and still keep a wary eye on the workloads of Faedo and fellow rookie Beau Brieske.
An awaking offense would certainly help ease some of the pressure.
Harold Castro, starting at first base to give Spencer Torkelson a night off, had three hits, including an RBI triple. Javier Baez had a pair of hits and scored a run.
The Tigers, with a little help from the D-backs, scored twice in the fifth to tie the score at 3. Tucker Barnhart walked and Victor Reyes doubled. Both scored on an error by Kennedy at second base.
Greene hit a broken-bat grounder and both the severed bat and the ball were coming at Kennedy. He didn’t catch either and both runners scored.
Miguel Cabrera climbed another rung on the all-time hit list, too. His single in the seventh was No. 3,053, tying Rod Carew for 27th place.
And another hat-tip to the Tigers' bullpen. After covering the final 3 2/3 innings Friday night without allowing a hit, it locked down the final five innings.
After Tyler Alexander pitched two scoreless innings, Joe Jimenez struck out two in the seventh. It was the eighth straight multiple-strikeout game for Jimenez. That's the third longest such streak since 1901.
Drew VerHagen was the last to do it in 2019.
Michael Fulmer posted his 12th straight scoreless outing in the eighth.
Gregory Soto closed it out, earning his 14th save.
