Welcome back to Kaufmann Stadium, where the Tigers were riding high from their victory on Monday night and hungry for more wins while eyeing the third wild card spot. Cole Ragans was on the mound for the Royals and none other than Casey Mize was on the field for the Tigers. It’s nice to see some pitchers who have been grabbing rebounds back in the mix.

The Tigers wasted no time getting on the scoreboard as Andy Ibanez reached first base on a hit-by-pitch and Matt Vierling hit a double to bring him home.

In the second half, Mize allowed a one-out walk to Bobby Witt Jr., who successfully stole second base, but it ultimately didn’t matter as Mize finished on the side.

Trey Sweeney managed a one-out single in the second inning, but was eliminated by a double play to end the inning. Hunter Renfroe managed a leadoff single in the second, but three outs quickly followed.

Parker Meadows hit a double to start the third inning, but he followed it up with three consecutive outs. Kyle Isbel started the second half with a single, but a double by Tommy Pham knocked him off the basepaths. Bobby Witt Jr. got another walk. Then Salvador Perez hit a single, followed by a single by Michael Massey that scored Witt and tied the game. Parker Meadows ended the inning in style with a truly incredible catch.

In the fourth inning, Colt Keith and Spencer Torkelson managed two consecutive walks with one out. Two more outs followed, leaving them helpless. In the second half, Yuli Gurriel got things rolling with a single, but a double play and a groundout ended the inning scoreless for the Royals.

In the fifth inning, the Tigers managed just one walk from Ibanez and no runs as he was also caught stealing. Tommy Pham singled with one out in the bottom half of the inning and Bobby Witt Jr. walked again. Perez walked after him to load the bases and that was it for Mize, who managed 4.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB and 3 K on 89 pitches. Shelby Miller came out of the bullpen as a relief and induced a double play to end the inning.

The sixth inning featured just a single by Colt Keith and no runs. In the second half, Gurriel managed a walk, then Paul DeJong hit a single. Kyle Isbel then managed a walk to load the bases with two outs, but the Tigers managed to get out of the inning unscathed.

Trey Sweeney started the seventh with a walk, but was picked off on an attempted steal at second base. Beau Brieske was the next Tigers reliever to leave, putting the Royals at 1-2-3.

Ragans was done for the night and replaced by Kris Bubic. The Tigers went down one by one. In the home team’s half, Tyler Holton was on for the Tigers, and the play of the inning could have been Bobby Scales in the radio booth making a bare-handed foul catch. This prompted Jason Bennetti to tell an incredible story about taking a foul ball to the chest in Triple-A.

On to the ninth, and if the Tigers were going to do it in regulation innings, this was it… Lucas Erceg was pitching, and pinch-hitter Wenceel Perez hit a double to start. Unfortunately, three outs followed, so they had to pull it out to the ninth inning and hope for the best in the extras. Tyler Holton came back to do the job, and got three outs in a row. On to the tenth.

Trey Sweeney was the ghost runner and got to third base with one out on a balk. Meadows then singled and Sweeney scored.

Matt Vierling walked with two outs, and while Erceg was clearly struggling, a length mound meeting occurred and then he was left in the game. Interesting strategy, Cotton. Riley Greene hit a single to center and literally knocked the glove off Erceg’s head and right past Witt, allowing Meadows to score.

That was it for Erceg, of course. Angel Zerpa came on for the Royals and got the last out, but had the Tigers done enough?

In the second half of the inning, Jason Foley had the chance to protect the Tigers’ lead and win the game.