Tigers 12, Twins 11: Justin Upton with a walkoff bomb

After a wild and thoroughly dispiriting eight innings, the Tigers were on the brink of a miserable loss. Mikie Mahtook and Justin Upton had other ideas, and sent the Saturday night crowd home happy with a stirring 12-11 victory.

Jose Berrios doesn’t like facing the Tigers. They dropped a 5 spot on him in the first inning courtesy of James McCann’s second grand slam of the season. Unfortunately, Jordan Zimmermann cannot pitch to the Twins either. The Tigers’ veteran came unglued early in this one, giving up seven earned runs, including two bombs, and couldn’t get through the fourth inning. The game would continued to eerily mirror a certain clash from May of 2016 in which manager Brad Ausmus blew a gasket and lost a sweatshirt.

Edward Mujica is on this team for some reason, and he contributed to the misery that engulfed the fanbase by giving up another three runs in the sixth. The Tigers were down 11-6 at that point, and all looked lost. Enter Joe Jimenez...

The Tigers’ prospect has barely gotten a look since returning to the team at the beginning of the month. He put together his best outing thus far, giving the Tigers two scoreless innings of work to keep them in it.

The Tigers scored three in the eighth to pull within one, with a two-run shot from Jose Iglesias being the major blow landed. Things were getting interesting. Shane Greene came on in the top of the ninth, with the Tigers down one, and he got in some trouble. It took a heck of a pitching clinic to get Miguel Sano and send this to the bottom of the ninth with the Tigers down just one.

After Mikie Mahtook singled to lead off the bottom of the ninth, Upton came to the plate. He unloaded on a fastball at the top of the zone, and had zero doubt that this one was a walkoff winner.

Roars

Justin Upton: We needed a hero. J-Up was up to the task once again.

James McCann: A grand slam, 5 RBI, and three runs scored for the Tigers’ catcher.

Jose Iglesias: One hit, but it was a big one. Iggy’s two-run shot, his fourth, brought the Tigers within one in the eighth, setting the stage for a walkoff victory.

Hisses

Jordan Zimmermann: Every time he shows signs of being useful, he goes and does this. Stop pitching him against the Twins!

Edward Mujica: Why? Why is he here? Why is he pitching for the Tigers? WTF is going on?

Stats and Info

-Our team is bad, but sometimes they still look great. Baseball. That’s all I got.

-Ok, one more thing...thanks Chris.