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Detroit Tigers fall short after Kenta Maeda's struggles in 4-2 loss to Baltimore Orioles
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- Detroit Tigers fall short after Kenta Maeda's struggles in 4-2 loss to Baltimore Orioles
The Detroit Tigers were doing it again.
A trio of pitchers, including right-hander Ty Madden as the bulk reliever, limited the Baltimore Orioles to one run across the first six innings, but everything fell apart in the seventh, when right-handed reliever Kenta Maeda took the mound for just the third time in 17 days.
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Maeda — who has a 6.07 ERA in 105⅓ innings — was tagged by the Orioles for three runs in the inning, highlighted by a two-run home run from Gunnar Henderson .
The Tigers lost, 4-2, to the Orioles on Saturday in the second of three games in the series at Comerica Park. There were 33,513 fans in the stands, making for an electric atmosphere as the Tigers (76-73) continued their push for the final spot in the American League wild card, still trailing the Minnesota Twins by 2½ games.
"It's a lot of fun to play in front of big crowds," said first baseman Spencer Torkelson , who finished 2-for-4 and drove in a run in the ninth inning. "It's what you dream of, especially when they're pulling for you. I'm really thankful for the fans."
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Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson (2) dives for the second base as Detroit Tigers shortstop Trey Sweeney (27) makes an error during the first inning at Comerica Park in Detroit on Saturday, September 14, 2024.
For the Orioles, right-hander Corbin Burnes — who started the All-Star Game for the AL team — fired seven scoreless innings on two hits and one walk with seven strikeouts, throwing 97 pitches.
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The four-time All-Star, also the 2021 National League Cy Young Award winner, dominated with all four pitches: cutter, changeup, curveball and slider.
"He's one of the best in the game for a reason," Torkelson said. "You got to tip your hat. He had command of every single one of his pitches and kept us off balance."
Detroit Tigers center fielder Parker Meadows (22) celebrates a solo home run against Baltimore Orioles during the ninth inning at Comerica Park in Detroit on Saturday, September 14, 2024.
Parker Meadows snapped the Tigers' scoreless streak at 15 innings with a solo home run off right-handed reliever Seranthony Domínguez in the ninth inning.
Meadows pulled a second-pitch fastball to right-center field, cutting the margin to 4-1.
"We put on a nice fight at the end and made it interesting," manager A.J. Hinch said. "Our guys aren't going to quit. We know that. This has been shown over and over, and we put up a nice fight at the end. We just didn't have enough."
Colt Keith hit a single to keep the pressure on the Orioles, but Kerry Carpenter and Riley Greene flew out to the warning track in center and right, respectively, for the first and second outs.
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Wenceel Pérez struck out swinging, which should've resulted in the third out, but he advanced to first base when the wild pitch got away from catcher James McCann .
Spencer Torkelson then hit a two-strike single through the hole between first and second that scored Keith, making it 4-2. The single put runners on the corners for pinch-hitter Zach McKinstry , who represented the game-winning run.
McKinstry grounded out to first base, ending the game.
"You got slow yourself down," Torkelson said. "The fans get loud, the situation, it's a big one. You get sped up automatically. You got to slow yourself down, take deep breaths and then not try to do too much. I fell into that trap the first swing, trying to tie the score. And then, I took a step back — get the job done, keep the line moving."
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Kenta Maeda struggles
In the seventh inning, the Tigers called upon Maeda, trailing 1-0.
"We were short quite a bit in the bullpen, and we needed somebody to get to the end," Hinch said. "We thought Kenta would be able to get below the barrel with the split. ... We thought the split was going to be something a little different he could feature one time through the order, which is what he was going to do."
Ryan O'Hearn struck out swinging, and Emmanuel Rivera fell behind with two strikes in the first two pitches, but later on, Maeda lost control of a sinker that hit Rivera in the elbow, putting a runner on first base. Livan Soto followed up by hitting a first-pitch splitter for a double to right field.
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The Orioles had runners on the corners for McCann, the ex-Tiger, who flew out to left field. But Rivera tagged up and scored for a 2-0 lead without a play at the plate, only because Pérez missed the cutoff man on his throw from left field.
The mistakes from Maeda and Pérez came back to bite the Tigers.
Henderson turned on a middle-middle sweeper for a two-run home run to right field. The homer put the Orioles ahead, 4-0, with two outs in the seventh inning.
It was Henderson's 37th homer in 147 games.
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Bulk reliever Ty Madden
The Orioles took a 1-0 lead in the third inning, but it wasn't entirely Madden's fault.
Madden should have struck out Henderson looking with a fastball that he located inside the strike zone, but home plate umpire Lance Barksdale ruled the pitch a ball, rather than a strike. The missed call happened with two outs.
Three pitches later, Henderson ripped a double to right field. Four pitches after that, Cedric Mullins drove in Henderson for a 1-0 advantage with a line-drive single to center field.
Otherwise, Madden performed well against the Orioles as the bulk reliever. The 24-year-old allowed one run on three hits and one walk with two strikeouts across 3⅔ innings, throwing 69 pitches.
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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' late rally not enough in 4-2 loss to Baltimore Orioles
