From no-hitter to no win: Tigers can’t close deal in loss to Mets
NEW YORK – The Detroit Tigers weren’t going to go 162-0.
As the Tigers tried to improve to 6-0, the pitching staff took a combined no-hitter into the eighth inning.
But the Tigers couldn’t complete the no-hitter and couldn’t win their sixth game in a row, losing 2-1 to the New York Mets in Game 2 of Thursday’s doubleheader at Citi Field. The Tigers (5-1) fell short of sweeping the doubleheader, the three-game series and the sixgame road trip.
Tyrone Taylor hit a walk-off single against right-handed reliever Alex Faedo in the bottom of the ninth inning.
“We just won back-to-back series,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “Happy with that. This was a tough loss, no doubt. We had a slim margin pretty much the whole game and couldn’t quite get anything across to extend it, and we came up a little short . ... But back-to-back series wins, and we get to head home. We can’t wait to be at Comerica.”
Right-hander Matt Manning, called up from Triple-A Toledo as the 27th man for Thursday’s doubleheader, completed 52⁄3 hitless innings on 90 pitches to jumpstart the no-hit bid.
“Not my best stuff,” said Manning, who has allowed two or fewer hits in each of his last four starts, dating back to last season. “It was honestly just a grind. To my personal standard, it wasn’t good at all.”
The no-hitter was broken up in the eighth inning when Harrison Bader hit a leadoff bloop single off left-handed reliever Tyler Holton. It had a 69.3 mph exit velocity.
Bader reached for a down-and-away changeup with two strikes and poked the ball into left field. The ball landed between left fielder Mark Canha, center fielder Parker Meadows and shortstop Javier Báez.
The single snapped 13 consecutive hitless innings by Tigers pitching, going back to Game 1 of Thursday’s doubleheader. The Tigers returned Manning, the leader of the no-hit bid, to Triple-A Toledo after using him as the 27th man, but not before Manning and Hinch had a
conversation.
“He was fighting it the whole time,” Hinch said. “It wasn’t his best, and he still got exactly the results we could have dreamed of, so I just talked to him in my office about how you’re going to have days like that, and you look up — no hits and no runs. I mean, he had to battle the entire day.”
Manning was asked about the chat with Hinch.
“I just told him I got a lot to button up before I face the Indianapolis Indians,” Manning said.
The leadoff single from Bader in the eighth inning might have been lucky, but the leadoff home run from Pete Alonso in the ninth inning
wasn’t cheap. He hammered a low changeup from right-handed reliever Faedo for a solo home run.
The homer tied the game, 1-1.
“We had one guy left,” Hinch said, referencing right-handed reliever Will Vest in the bullpen. “Alex Faedo was nasty today and threw a below-the-zone offspeed pitch that Alonso hit out of the ballpark. There are some tip-yourcap moments at this level. That’s certainly one of them.”
The lone run
The Tigers faced right-hander José Buttó in
Game 2 of the doubleheader.
It didn’t take long for the Tigers to score. In the second inning, Colt Keith worked a leadoff walk to set the table. He stole second base on Andy Ibáñez’s swinging strikeout and advanced to third base on a throwing error by catcher Omar Narváez.
Báez slapped a second-pitch curveball into shallow right-center field to score Keith.
Buttó allowed one run on three hits and three walks with six strikeouts across six innings.
The Tigers finished with five hits and four walks but only one run.
Matt Manning arrives
Manning, who was optioned to Triple-A Toledo at the end of spring training, walked four batters across his 52⁄3 innings. He gave free passes to Brandon Nimmo in the first inning, Tyrone Taylor in the second inning, Nimmo in the third inning and Nimmo in the sixth inning. He also racked up three strikeouts.
“I was like, I don’t know how they’re getting any hits right now because this is not good stuff,” Manning said.
In the sixth, Manning followed his third walk to Nimmo (and fourth total walk) by retiring dangerous hitters Francisco Lindor and Alonso. After that, Holton, a left-handed reliever, replaced Manning.
“It was a no-brainer,” Hinch said. “We’re trying to win the game, and that was the best route there.”
Holton struck out Brett Baty, a left-handed hitter, on three consecutive pitches for called strikes. All three pitchers — one slider and two sinkers — were painted on the down-and-away corner.
As for Manning, he threw 41 fastballs, 36 sweepers, six sliders, six curveballs and one splitter. He generated seven whiffs with two fastballs, three sweepers, one slider and one curveball.
His fastball averaged 93.2 mph.
“The first inning, I was like, oh man, it’s cold,” Manning said, emphasizing the firstpitch temperature of 43 degrees. “It was just a grind. Fill it up, don’t chase strikeouts, continue to pound the zone and don’t give in.”