Detroit Tigers sweep Royals, avoid 100-loss season

The Detroit Tigers will not lose 100 games in 2022.

The Detroit Tigers have had an embarrassing 2022 campaign, but nothing is quite as embarrassing in baseball as losing 100 games in a season. Luckily, they will avoid that feat.

The Tigers just swept the Kansas City Royals in a three-game series for wins 61, 62, and 63 on the season, which means the worse they can finish is 63-99. Obviously that’s still pretty bad, but not losing 100 games after the season this team has had is a win in and of itself.

In fact, this calls for a celebration. We’re going to do a rare series recap here at Motor City Bengals.

Game 1

Game 1 didn’t start out well for the Tigers. Zack Greinke pitched seven scoreless innings for Kansas City. It looked like they were on their way to their 22nd shutout of the season.

But the offense came alive in the eighth. Riley Greene got the Detroit Tigers on the board with an RBI single. Then Hittin’ Harold Castro did what he did best: singled to left field to tie the game at 3.

The game would go to extras, where Castro capped off a three-hit game with a walkoff single, giving the Tigers a 4-3 win.

Joey Wentz started for the Tigers and pitched five innings, allowing three runs while walking three and striking out four.

Game 2

Game 2 didn’t start out well for the Tigers either, as Matt Manning was scratched from his start right before first pitch with arm fatigue, so Will Vest got the emergency start in what ended up being a bullpen day for the Tigers. It was later announced that Manning would not pitch again this season.

The bullpen was fantastic given the circumstances, giving up just one run in nine innings: a leadoff home run by MJ Melendez.

The only scoring for the Tigers came in the bottom of the first, as Miguel Cabrera hit a rare two-run shot to left center. That score would hold for the rest of the game, with Gregory Soto pitching a scoreless ninth as the Tigers won, 2-1.

Game 3

Unlike the first two games, this was not a close, one-run affair—quite the opposite. The Tigers won via blowout in this one.

The fireworks started in the first inning, with Willi Castro smacking a solo homer to right center. He would unfortunately leave the game after pulling a hamstring later on.

Javier Baez broke things open in the fifth inning with a two-run bomb to left. It was his 16th home run of the season and it continued his hot month of September. Tucker Barnhart of all people had three hits in this game, including two RBIs.

On the mound, Eduardo Rodriguez had one of his better starts as a Tiger, pitching 6.2 shutout innings, allowing five hits, walking four and striking out three.

This all culminated in a 10-3 win for the Tigers—their sixth in a row, all against AL Central opponents.

Final thoughts

Is it any coincidence that the Tigers are 8-1 since Scott Harris was hired as the team’s president of baseball operations? I think not. All jokes aside, it’s nice to see them play this well to end the season, even if it means nothing in the grand scheme of things.

This win also propels the team to fourth in the division, moving ahead of Kansas City. Silver linings!

Anyway, the Detroit Tigers have one more series at home against the Twins before going to Seattle to end the season.