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Colt Keith, Gio Urshela deliver epic comeback in Detroit Tigers' 11-9 (10) win over L.A.
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- Colt Keith, Gio Urshela deliver epic comeback in Detroit Tigers' 11-9 (10) win over L.A.
In the fifth inning, Los Angeles Dodgers two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani hit the 200th home run of his MLB career. The milestone homer put the Dodgers ahead of the Detroit Tigers on the scoreboard in Saturday's game.
It took a while, but the Tigers picked up some home run magic of their own, clawing back with a five-run ninth inning to even the score, highlighted by a clutch game-tying home run from rookie Colt Keith .
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The Tigers then beat the Dodgers, 11-9, in 10 innings in the second of three games in the series at Comerica Park. Gio Urshela hit a walk-off two-run home run off right-handed reliever Yohan Ramírez to complete the rally.
The Tigers (46-50) have one more game until the All-Star break.
Detroit Tigers designated hitter Mark Canha (21) scores a run against L. A. Dodgers after second base Colt Keith bats a double during the second inning at Comerica Park in Detroit on Saturday, July 13, 2024.
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The epic ninth inning began with three consecutive hits off right-handed reliever Ricky Vanasco : Wenceel Pérez's single, Justyn-Henry Malloy 's single and Matt Vierling 's double. The double from Vierling drove in two runs and trimmed the Tigers' deficit to 9-6.
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Riley Greene grounded out and Jake Rogers struck out, putting the Tigers down to their final out. But Carson Kelly kept the Tigers alive with an RBI single off right-handed reliever Evan Phillips , making it 9-7.
Then, Colt Keith — a 22-year-old rookie playing in the 85th game of his MLB career — turned on a first-pitch, up-and-in cutter from Phillips for a two-run home run to right field. His ninth homer of the season tied the game at what else ... 9-9 .
Keith has five homers in his past 10 games.
The Tigers scored their first two runs on Keith's two-run double in the second inning against left-hander Justin Wrobleski. Keith finished 3-for-4 with four RBIs, one walk and one strikeout.
But Keith wasn't done. In the top of the 10th, he turned an incredible double play (with shortstop Zach McKinstry ) to strand the bases loaded, completing the play after Will Vest utilized his slider to induce a ground ball from Freddie Freeman .
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Shohei Ohtani 's milestone
There were a lot of Dodgers fans in attendance at Comerica Park for the second day in a row.
As a result, there were a lot of cheers after Ohtani destroyed a middle-middle changeup from right-hander Keider Montero for a solo home run in the fifth inning, making it 3-2.
L. A. Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) high-fives third base coach Dino Ebel (91) after batting a solo home run against Detroit Tigers during the fifth inning at Comerica Park in Detroit on Saturday, July 13, 2024.
Montero, 24, allowed five runs on seven hits and four walks with four strikeouts across five innings, throwing 92 pitches. He owns a 5.47 ERA through five games in his MLB career and will stay in the starting rotation coming out of the All-Star break.
Ohtani also put the Dodgers ahead, 1-0, in the first inning when he scored from third base after opening the game with a triple to right field off Montero's middle-away changeup.
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After Montero, the Dodgers scored one run off left-handed reliever Joey Wentz , two runs off right-handed reliever Alex Faedo and one run off left-handed reliever Andrew Chafin .
Ohtani scored for the third and final time in the eighth inning, boosting the Dodgers' lead to 9-4, on Freddie Freeman's sacrifice fly. Before crossing home plate, he walked on five pitches, stole second base and moved up to third base on Teoscar Hernández 's single. He finished only a double short of the cycle.
Ohtani has 29 homers and 23 steals in 93 games.
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Ryan Vilade 's milestone
The Tigers scored two runs in the second inning, two runs in the fifth inning and five runs in the ninth inning.
A memorable moment occurred in the fifth inning, when Ryan Vilade hit the first home run of his MLB career. He tagged a cutter from Wrobleski at the bottom of the strike zone for a solo home run to left-center field.
His first homer happened in his ninth MLB game.
The next batter, Andy Ibáñez , turned on a middle-in slider for a solo home run to left field. With the homer, Ibáñez continued his success against left-handed pitchers.
The back-to-back solo homers cut the Tigers' deficit to 5-4 after five innings, only for the Dodgers to respond with four runs across the next three innings.
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Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold .
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers blast off in epic rally for 11-9 (10) win over Dodgers
