The Detroit Tigers had quite the Fourth of July on Monday as they went into Comerica Park and swept a doubleheader against the Cleveland Guardians.
After going 4-for-4 in Game 1, Jonathan Schoop went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored in Game 2 while raising his batting average 16 points to .207 on the season.
Despite going 1-for-5, rookie Riley Greene also added a pair of RBIs as the Tigers won Game 2 by a score of 5-3.
Unfortunately, not everything went as planned for the Tigers on Monday as starting pitcher Alex Faedo had to leave early due to discomfort in his hip.
A.J. Hinch names ‘Player of the Game’ from win over Guardians
When Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch had to take out Faedo in the fourth inning, he made the decision to roll with relief pitcher Tyler Alexander and to say Alexander stepped up would be an understatement.
Alexander came in and pitched 3 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball (he only needed 32 pitches) before handing the ball over to Alex Lange and Joe Jimenez to close things out.
Overall, the Tigers bullpen held the Guardians to no runs and just two hits over the final 5 1/3 innings to seal the deal for the good guys.
Following the game, Hinch spoke to reporters and he said that if they had a player of the game, it would be Alexander.
“If we had a player of the game, we would give it to him because of the efficiency, plus the outs, plus the zeroes,” Hinch said. “Probably the biggest out he got was the first out he got with the bases loaded against Kwan.
“That game is completely different if they put up a four or five spot there.”
Alexander said he was not expected to come out for a third inning of work.
“It’s been my role to kind of bridge the gap between the starter and the back end of the bullpen,” Alexander said. “I did that today with I guess an extra inning. I wasn’t exactly expecting to get the third up, but I was efficient.”
The Detroit Tigers will take on the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday at Comerica Park beginning at 7:10 p.m. ET.
