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After losing three of four against the Cleveland Guardians, the Detroit Tigers didn't exactly have an easy bounce back opportunity with the San Francisco Giants coming to town. The Giants are one of the best teams in baseball this season as they came into this series with a 31-22 record. Winning two of three would've been huge for the Tigers, but they went ahead and swept them for good measure. Detroit finished off the series with a 4-3 win on Wednesday.
With the win, the Tigers improved to 37-20 on the season. That is the best record in baseball. What makes this team so good is that there are so many different guys that will step up on any given day. On Wednesday, it was right fielder Justyn-Henry Malloy.
“We find different ways to win, which is really important,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said, according to an article from MLB.com. “I think our team has learned that we don’t know when we show up who it’s going to be. Today it’s J-Hen, tough matchup … That’s our team. We don’t care who the hero is. We don’t care what inning it’s going to be. We’ve shown it over and over and over again that we’re going to try to beat you with our 26 guys. And sometimes, it works.”
Justyn-Henry Malloy capped off a big fifth inning with a clutch two-out, two-RBI single to put the Tigers up 4-3. After making it 3-2 in the inning, the Tigers had runners on second and third with no outs, but the Giants went to the bullpen and brought in Randy Rodriguez. After striking out the first two hitters he faced, it looked like Rodriguez might get out of the jam. Malloy had other plans.
“Rodriguez is nasty,” Hinch said. “That’s a really good reliever with plus stuff all across the board. The human instinct is to try to do too much, especially given the lack of opportunity. But he has an uncanny ability to take a deep breath and stay in the zone.”
Malloy's hit came with two strikes, and it was on a 97 MPH fastball. He was waiting for the right pitch, and he got it.
“Just wanted to get the job done,” Malloy said. “Obviously, he’s got a really good fastball and a really good wipeout slider, so [I] just wanted to pick a pitch and be on time for it.”
Justyn-Henry Malloy has come up with a lot of clutch hits this season. In fact, he recently gave the Tigers a win on a walkoff against the Red Sox. Malloy thrives in pressure moments.
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“I like them; I really do,” he said. “I like to call myself an adrenaline guy. I like big moments. I think everyone in this locker room does. Runners in scoring position with a chance to impact the game, I friggin’ love it.”
Another hero in this game for the Tigers was relief pitcher Tommy Kahnle. Kahnle came into the game in the eighth inning with runners on second and third with no outs. Detroit was still clinging to its 4-3 lead, and Kahnle somehow got out of the innings with zero runs coming in to score.
“I knew I had to get some sort of weak contact just to get a first out because I know I’m not the strikeout pitcher that I once was,” Kahnle said.
This Tigers team is a lot of things, but perhaps the best word to describe them is special.
“It’s special, I can see it,” Kahnle added. “I would say probably more the finer things of baseball. The [running] first-to-thirds are big time. And just getting guys in a position to succeed, really. I think they do a great job with what we have, and we’re excelling at it.”
The Tigers get a well-deserved day off on Thursday before starting a three-game series against the Kansas City Royals on the road on Friday.
