In the fifth inning on Saturday, the Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Otani He hit the 200th home run of his Major League Baseball career. The special hit put the Dodgers ahead of the Detroit Tigers on the scoreboard.
It took a while, but the Tigers found some home run magic of their own as they clawed back the balance with an unlikely five-run ninth inning to tie the score, highlighted by a crucial home run from newcomer Colt Keith that tied the game.
The Tigers then beat the Dodgers 11-9 in 10 innings in the second of three games in the series at Comerica Park, playing in front of 40,196 fans. Gio Urshela hit a two-run home run off right-hander Johan Ramirez to complete the comeback victory.
“I don’t know how to properly comment on this game, except for the amazing feeling I had when I saw the players happy inside. What a great comeback,” said team manager AJ Hinch.
The Tigers (46-50), winners of nine of their last 12, have one more game until the All-Star break.
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The epic ninth inning began with three straight hits by right-handed pitcher Ricky Vanasco: a single by Wensel Perez, a single by Justin Henry Malloy, and a double by Matt Ferling. Ferling’s double scored two runs and cut the Tigers’ deficit to 9-6.
Riley Greene came off the field and Jake Rogers struck out, leaving the Tigers trailing until the final inning. But Carson Kelly kept the Tigers alive with a single off right-handed pitcher Evan Phillips, making it 9-7.
Then, Keith, 22, playing in his 85th career MLB game, hit a hard hit from Phillips to right field for two runs, his ninth hit of the season, to tie the game at 9-9.
Keith has scored five goals in his last 10 games.
“It’s one of the coolest moments so far,” Keith said. “Obviously playing against a Dodgers team that had billion-dollar players, and we were able to beat them because of the guys here. It was fun.”
The Tigers scored their first two runs on a double by Keith in the second inning against left-handed pitcher Justin Wrobleski. Keith finished the game with three runs in four with four RBI, one hit and one strikeout.
But Keith didn’t stop there. In the 10th inning, he pulled off a stunning double (with center fielder Zach McKinstry) to get the bases loaded, completing the move after Will Vest used his slider to get Freddie Freeman to hit a ground ball.
“I couldn’t believe Zach got to that ball,” Keith said. “Right before the game started, he said, ‘If the ball’s his, I’m going to go to second base.’ I told him I would. It went well. The bases were loaded, and to be able to get that double play and score, it was one of the coolest moments I’ve ever had.”
In the tenth inning, the Tigers advanced their free agent from second base to third base on a sacrifice bunt from Perez, and although Urshela only needed a deep fly ball, he got over the fence in left-center field for a home run.
Powerful shot from midfield by Ramirez.
“Amazing,” Urshela said. “We fought the whole game today. We went into the ninth with a five-point lead, it was amazing. The whole team did something to win this game. Colt was just amazing.”
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Shohei Otani’s Achievement
There were a large number of Dodgers fans in attendance for the second day in a row.
As a result, there were cheers after Ohtani destroyed a middle-of-the-road changeup ball from right-handed pitcher Kidder Montero for a solo home run in the fifth, making it 3-2.
“I’ll take my hat off to him, but I didn’t like the goal,” Hinch said.
Montero, 24, has allowed five runs on seven hits and four walks with four strikeouts over five innings, throwing 92 batters. He has a 5.47 earned run average through five games in his MLB career and will remain in the starting lineup after the All-Star break.
“I was just trying to give 100 per cent. I say that in every race. I know it wasn’t my best race ever, but I wanted to compete at my best at the moment,” Montero said in Spanish via team interpreter Carlos Guillén.
Ohtani also put the Dodgers up 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 changeup ball into center field.
After Montero, the Dodgers scored one off left-handed pitcher Joey Wentz, two off right-handed pitcher Alex Faedo, and one off left-handed pitcher Andrew Chafin.
Ohtani struck out for the third and final time in the eighth inning, extending the Dodgers’ lead to 9-4, on a sacrifice bunt by Freeman. Before crossing home base, he walked five batters, stole second and moved to third on Teoscar Hernandez’s single. He finished the game with just a double to go in the inning.
Otani recorded 29 goals and 23 steals in 93 games.
“I feel like he’s batting in three different places in the order because he’s going up every inning, I feel like that,” Hinch said. “He’s a special player and he’s doing it under the biggest light in that spot. It’s unbelievable.”
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Ryan Villady’s Achievement
A memorable moment came in the fifth inning, when Ryan Villaday hit the first home run of his Major League career. He touched a Wrobleski cutoff ball at the bottom of the batter’s zone and hit a 389-foot solo home run to left-center field.
His first home run came in his ninth Major League Baseball game.
“I didn’t really feel it. It was just one of those hits. It was a once-in-a-lifetime hit. I can’t really explain it. It was crazy. I’ve been waiting for that moment for a long time,” Villadi said.
The next batter, Andy Ibañez, hit a slider to center field for a solo home run to left field. With the home run, Ibañez continued his success against lefty pitchers.
Back-to-back doubles cut the Tigers’ lead to 5-4 after five innings, but the Dodgers responded with four runs over the next three innings against all three relief players.
Contact Evan Petzold at [email protected] Or follow him @Evan Petzold.
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