Detroit Tigers Weekly Minor League Recap: Putting in Workman

Detroit Tigers Minor League Recap – Week 3

Lakeland Flying Tigers, 9-9, t2nd (4.0 GB) in Low-A Southeast, West Division

Bradenton is the only city in the Low-A Southeast with streaming video, and the Flying Tigers treated fans to an offensive outburst last week, going 4-2 and finishing with an absurd flourish. Lakeland began the week in style, scoring four times in the first inning against the Marauders and getting a great start from Carlos Guzman (5IP, 2H, BB, 8K) on their way to an easy 7-0 win. It was Ted Stuka (5IP, H, 2BB, 9K) with the strong start on Wednesday, while Nick Quintana (2-for-3, 2B, 3 RBI) led the offense to another 7-0 victory. Bradenton beat up on Flygers pitching on Thursday in a 12-6 win, spoiling home runs from Cooper Johnson and Jimmy Kerr.

On Friday Lakeland got a solid start from Adam Wolf (5IP, 5H, 2ER, 5K) and a balanced offensive performance that included home runs from Eric De La Rosa and Gage Workman in a 9-2 victory. The Marauders scored five early runs on Saturday and held on for a tight 7-6 victory to put a damper of Andrew Navigato‘s first career homer, but the Flying Tigers took the series with a wild victory on Sunday. Bradenton led 6-0 after five innings, but Lakeland scored once in the 6th, twice in the 7th, and five times in the 8th to take an 8-7 lead. Then they went crazy in the 9th, scoring 12 runs to win 20-7.

• Gage Workman had one of the best weeks of any player in the minors, capped off by a cycle on Sunday in which he recorded both his single and double in the 9th. Last year’s 4th-round pick went 10-for-26 on the week, with three doubles, a triple, two home runs, two stolen bases, and seven walks.
• Isrrael De La Cruz is a converted infielder who generally shows pedestrian stuff on the mound, but he was untouchable in Friday’s game. The 24-year-old pitched three near-perfect innings and struck out 7 of the 10 batters he faced. At one point he struck out six batters in a row.
• Here’s how Sunday’s 12-run 9th inning unfolded for Lakeland: HBP, single, single, BB, single, K, single, BB, BB, HBP, BB, single, single, BB, pop out, double, ground out. Kingston Liniak made two of the three outs in the inning.