Like many of our friends throughout the SB Nation network, we are simulating the 2020 MLB season with MLB The Show 20. While we are unable to stream the games as they would otherwise be happening, we will try to get ahead of the curve and post about the games on the same day they would have taken place. Or, you know, at least get them back on schedule. Now, onto the recap!
It took them a little while, but the simulated Detroit Tigers eventually plated enough runs to get by the Seattle Mariners via a 4-0 victory at Comerica Park on Tuesday evening. Just like real life, the simulated version of Spencer Turnbull has suffered from a serious lack of run support; despite a 2.04 ERA for the season, this was just Turnbull’s second win on the year.
The Tigers didn’t break through on the scoreboard until the sixth inning, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. They put multiple runners on base in both the first and second innings, only for a hard-hit ball to find Seattle leather. In the first, Jonathan Schoop’s sharp grounder with two runners on went straight to Dee Gordon, who turned an easy inning-ending double play. In the next frame, Dawel Lugo made nice contact with runners on first and second, but it went straight to Mitch Haniger for the third out of the inning. This bad luck continued for the next few innings as Mariners starter Marco Gonzales kept his team level.
His team needed it, too. The Mariners were off balance all night, collecting just four hits against Tigers pitching. Turnbull allowed three of those in seven innings of work, and never more than one in a single frame. Twice he gave up a double, only to leave that runner stranded at second, but more often the Mariners settled for lazy fly balls that offered little threat to the opposition.
C.J. Cron broke the scoreless tie in the sixth with a solo home run, his 15th of the season, and a few more runs followed from there. Clint Frazier doubled to lead off the seventh, and Christin Stewart plated him with an RBI triple that narrowly evaded Braden Bishop in center field — had Mallex Smith been playing, it likely would have been a long fly out — to make it 2-0, Tigers. Stewart scored later in the inning on a Lugo sacrifice fly, further extending the Detroit lead. Jonathan Schoop capped the scoring in the bottom of the eighth with a solo home run, his ninth of the year.