– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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BALTIMORE — Many of the marks of the dramatic improvement the Detroit Tigers have made over the past few years lie in the statistics, while others are reserved more for the intangibles department. After tonight’s victory, Detroit’s latest piece of evidence of their ascent is one for the history books, which this iteration of the team looking like they’re on the verge of a history-making season.
Spencer Torkelson hit a two-run home run as part of a three-run fifth inning for the Tigers, who defeated the Baltimore 5-3 inside Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Tuesday evening. Gleyber Torres, Riley Greene, Zach McKinstry and Wenceel Pérez each had two hits for Detroit, and Sawyer Gipson-Long went 4 2/3 innings and allowed a run and three hits while striking out five out of the bullpen in his second appearance since returning to the team from Tommy John and hip surgeries.
Detroit, who owns the best record in baseball at 44-24, has now moved 20 games over the .500 mark for the first time since 2013, the final season under now Hall-of-Fame manager Jim Leyland when the Tigers won 93 games. The 2025 Tigers are projected to also win 93 games at the moment according to FanGraphs.
Both of McKinstry’s hits on Tuesday were triples, as he now is tied for the Major League lead in that category. His first of the night came in the second inning with one out off Orioles starter Cade Povich, and Detroit plated the first run of the game as Pérez immediately followed with a sacrifice fly.
Detroit broke the game open in the fifth when it entered with a 2-1 lead before four consecutive two-out hits turned that advantage into 5-1. Greene started the rally with a double to right before he came around to score on a bloop single by catcher Dillon Dingler. Torkelson followed with a two-run homer to the deepest part of the park in center field, just eluding the leaping attempt of Orioles outfielder Colton Cowser. McKinstry capped off the spree with his second triple, which then signaled the end to Povich’s night.
Ten of Torkelson’s home runs have come with two strikes, and he came into the evening tied with Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh — the Major League leader in homers — and Mets first baseman Pete Alonso with nine two-strike home runs.
“I think it’s just part of his game plan to just stay on the ball,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “I think it’s the way he bounces back from tough at-bats. He had a couple tough ones to start the game, but he’s pretty resilient. He has a game plan going up there, and when he gets a good pitch to hit, he’s doing a lot of damage.”
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Tuesday evening’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Timothy Rice. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 30 pictures in total.
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