No surprise here! The Houston Astros (93-50) swept the Detroit Tigers (54-89) in a three-game series at home. A.J. Reilly breaks down the series and discusses what went right (not much) and what went wrong (a lot) for the Detroit Tigers.
Who wins this upcoming series: Chicago White Sox or Detroit Tigers?
Series Notes
- Game one, they beat them with singles and great defense.
- Complete game shutout by Framber Valdez, 8Ks. 21st shut out of season.
- Game two, they beat them with Home runs.
- Had just tied game and then no shutdown inning, Hutch gave up 3 runs, and that was all she wrote.
- Chris McCoskey: “Drew Hutchinson gave up 9 hits in 5.1 IP. Six of them after he got two strikes on the hitter…
- Game three, good defense, home runs, and small ball.
- Kyle Tucker (who should’ve been on the list for the JV deal) Homered, guys on first and second, bunted over, sac fly. Door shut.
- Wentz had 91 pitches in 4+ IP, 27 foul balls.
- Essentially the Houston Astros are what you wish the Tigers could be. Great pitching, great defense, a great offense that can beat you a multitude of ways.
- Pitching: 1st (starters: 1st; BP: 2nd)
- Hitting: 5th overall, 6th in wRC+
- Fielding: 3rd overall, 3rd in DRS, 2nd in OAA
Video Transcription is provided below
Please watch the video above.
Video Transcription
A.J. Reilly: Let’s talk about Justin Verlander and his Houston Astros who were in town into the surprise of nobody swept the tires.
They swept the Tigers in a way that good baseball teams beat bad baseball teams. I’m gonna say this up front. And I mean it wholeheartedly, the Houston Astros are the type of baseball team that you wish the Detroit Tigers would become. They have great pitching great defense, great offense, all phases of the game.
They’re top of the line. And that’s the type of team that you want to build, which makes you wonder if baseball were to allow it. Why not bring in Jeff Luhnow as the GM, he built the Astros. Now they’ve made acquisitions and things since then, but all of the players that you’re seeing in their system, I mean, if there is a name that should be at the top of the GM list, probably Jeff Luhnow not gonna sit well, sure.
I get it. You’re gonna get your, you know, Morality police out here saying we don’t want more cheaters. Eh, they paid their penance. I believe in second chances. And I’d have no problem if they signed him as the GM. I don’t think they will, but I would have no problem because he built a team that we would want to be game one.
They beat the Tigers with singles. They didn’t have many extra base hits at all, but they played great defense as well. Complete game shut up by Framber Valdez, eight Ks and it was the 21st shutout for the Detroit tigers. This season setting a franchise record game two. They beat him with home runs in the second inning.
We tied to game one, one, then Drew Hutchinson went out, didn’t have a shut in and gave up three runs in the third game. Over after that. The worst part about that is Drew Hutchinson. According to Chris McCoskey from the Detroit News, gave up nine hits in his five and a third innings pitched six of them.
Drew Hutchison gave up nine hits in his 5.1 IP. Six of them after he got two strikes on the hitter. He leaves with one out and runners at second and third.
— Chris McCosky (@cmccosky) September 14, 2022
After he had two strikes on the hitter, you have to be able to put guys away and he just couldn’t game three, they played good defense. They hit home runs and they also won with small ball. Which is something you don’t see very often, Kyle Tucker had a solo home run. And the fact that we’re talking about Justin Verlander and Kyle Tucker right now is a huge thing.
And I’ll tell you why. The fact that Kyle Tucker was not included in that package for Justin Verlander back in 2017 is a major failure on Avila’s part, a huge failure on Avila. Now Tucker’s hitting home runs for him 27 of ’em this season. Would you like to have 27 in our lineup right now? Yeah, for sure.
Cuz our leading home run hitter has 13 Jeimer Candelario, Kyle Tucker Homeward, a few, uh, innings later they guys on first and second Jeremy Pena lays down a beautiful bunt, moves them over, which typically I don’t advocate analytically for bunting, but it worked in this case because the very next. Sacrifice fly to center field two, nothing lead hobby bias hits a home run, Tigers can’t muster.
Anything else other than the fact that Riley Greene hit the hardest ball of the game 400 and however many feet. And it wasn’t out because it was the dead center field, but AJ Hinch had a great comment about that. You wanna get upset about the dimensions of Comerica Park don’t that’s the stadium that they built for whatever reason they built it.
That. They play 81 games there. And AJ said, we gotta play to our park. We can’t complain. We can’t keep pouting play to the park and they need to, which is why they need to become, or model themselves after a team like the Astros, they talked about it on every broadcast about how the Astros just looked to hit the ball to the gaps they weren’t trying to do too much.
You will not win. If you’re the Detroit tigers. If you stack your lineup with home, run hitters, all they’re nothing, guys. You need guys that can go gap to gap. You need guys that are good base runners and you need guys that play really good defense as well because of how big that park is. Riley Greene going 110 feet to make a diving catch on the warning track.
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He’s so good. He is so good. Need to appreciate what he is and the bats coming around. He’s getting hot. It’s fantastic. Wentz was good but just couldn’t put hitters away. Either went four-plus innings. Didn’t get in out in the fifth through 91 pitches, but had 27 foul balls. It’s not like his stuff. Wasn’t good.
But I told you the Astros don’t strike out much in the preview and they didn’t. They foul the ball off. They make you work. They give tough at-bats They are what you want the Tigers too. be I’m gonna keep saying that. Look in pitching they’re first in major league baseball and pitching, their starters are first they’re bullpen, second hitting overall they’re fifth, but they’re sixth in weighted runs created plus fielding they’re third overall third in defensive runs saved.
And second in outs against average, if you wanna look at a team that you wanna build your team, like it is the Houston Astros because they play in all aspects of the game, in all facets of the game and they. are The best team in the American League, you might get sick. of them You might say, oh, they cheated. Well, whatever.
Okay, listen, the method by which they cheated was wrong. But if you are, if you don’t believe that other teams are stealing signs, you’re crazy. Stealing signs are as apparent in baseball as wooden bats are, it’s just the method that they went about it. And I’ve argued that from day one. When I play ball I’m on second.
We would try to steal signs. When I coached ball, I’d sit on a bucket at the end of the duck out and watch the, the coach giving pitching signals and relay those to my hitters. That’s just what you do. It’s part of the game, but we did not bring in a video that was non-player related. And then relay that system.
The method was wrong. The fact that it happens, it happens all the time. So no surprise the tigers. To the Astros, they, they were swept by the Astros and that’s just where they sit. They’re now 54 and 89 with 19 games left to play, we’re gonna talk about those 19 games at the end of this show, but let’s talk about the White Sox who are coming to town.
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About The Show:
The Corner with A.J Reilly – The official Detroit Tigers Podcast for DSN! Hosted by AJ Reilly. New episodes are LIVE Monday and Thursday every week at 6 pm.
