The Detroit Tigers have been off to a hot start in the month of May winning five of their first six games, they are now 9-5 as they head to Washington to take on the Nationals for a three-game series starting tonight. The Tigers have put up 55 runs so far this month and the Tigers’ middle-of-the-order bats have driven in 23 of those runs in Spencer Torkelson, Javier Baez, and Riley Greene.
Key Points:
- The Detroit Tigers are 9-5 in the month of May
- The Tigers will take on the Nationals this weekend in a three-game series
- The Tigers have scored 55 runs this month
- Javier Baez, Spencer Torkelson, and Riley Greene have driven in 23 runs in May.
Middle of the Order
The middle of the order with Torkelson, Baez, and Greene has been mixed around but has included Torkelson as the cleanup hitter every time. The Trio has combined to hit .321 with five home runs and 23 RBI. Torkelson had this to say about his teammates.
“They’re great, It’s really fun to watch from the on-deck circle and in the hole on the top step (of the dugout), so I’m fortunate they’re on our team.”
– Spencer Torkelson
The trio is having fun working together and making each other better as the season has progressed. Javier Baez had this to say about opposing pitchers facing this trio.
“They have to decide who they want to pitch to, and if everybody’s hot, they’re in trouble.”
– Javier Baez
Baez early in the season was struggling at the plate but on April 13th against the Blue Jays, Detroit Tigers manager AJ Hinch benched Baez for not running out of the box on his double and then he had a base running blunder later in the inning. Since the benching Baez has changed his approach at the plate and has turned into a completely different hitter hitting .298 since the benching with three home runs and 18 RBI. Baez has this to say about his approach at the plate
“I’m making adjustments, I’m trying to be short to the ball and not trying to hit it so hard, but it’s hard because I have strong legs and that’s where my power comes from. It’s hard for me to control it. But I’m seeing the ball good, and timing-wise, it’s pretty good.”
– Javier Baez
Wrap Up
On Wednesday, the Detroit Tigers lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-0, in that game Riley Greene did not play which is the only game this month the three of them weren’t all in the lineup. The one thing the three of them all seem to have is confidence in the box and that’s something Riley Greene noted as being everything:
“Confidence is everything in the box, and we just have to keep it going.”
– Riley Greene
Now heading to Washington, the three of them will need to be on top of their game as the Tigers look to keep pace in the American League Central race and continue their winning ways in the month of May. They don’t need to hit home runs every at bat just need to get on base and when they have runners on in scoring position find ways to bring them home and AJ Hinch is making sure they know that.
“The game doesn’t always give you homers, I think sometimes you can fool yourself by hitting a bad pitch over your head out of the ballpark, or you can chase a ball below the zone out of the ballpark, but generally speaking, at this level, you’re not going to get sustained success by swinging outside of the zone and trying to hit every ball out of the ballpark.”
– AJ Hinch
