Next up: Twins
Matchup: Tigers (7-4)
vs. Minnesota (3-5 entering Tuesday), series opener.
First pitch: 1:10 p.m. Thursday; Comerica Park, Detroit.
TV/radio: Bally Sports
Detroit; WXYT-FM
(97.1).
Probable pitchers: Tigers — LHP Tarik Skubal
(1-0, 2.02 ERA); Twins — RHP Pablo Lopez (1-1, 2.84 ERA).
PITTSBURGH — Detroit Tigers first baseman Spencer Torkelson had a chance to change the game.
There was a runner on second base with one out in the top of the ninth inning Monday against the Pittsburgh Pirates. It was a three-run game, but a hit or a walk from Torkelson would have brought the game-tying run to the plate. He worked ahead 3-0 in the count, but three pitches later, he struck out swinging.
Torkelson whiffed at a slider in the dirt for the third strike.
“I feel like I’m seeing the ball well,” Torkelson said Tuesday, the morning after getting one hit, one walk and two strikeouts in the 7-4 loss at PNC Park. “I feel like 3-2 (count) yesterday, I was one pitch away from having a really good day. I got too big against a guy that throws all over the zone, but no, I’m seeing the ball well. I just need to slow down a little bit more and get my timing.”
Torkelson singled up the middle to drive in the Tigers’ first run in Tuesday’s 5-3 win. The 24year-old is hitting .200 with three walks and eight strikeouts across 49 plate appearances in 11 games this season. He also struggled in spring training, hitting .137 with five walks and 20 strikeouts across 57 plate appearances in 19 games.
The slugger hasn’t blasted a home run yet. “Just kind of near misses,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “He’s taken some swings at some good pitches not centered them or popped them up or put them in play more on the ground.”
Torkelson is a .220 hitter with a .300 on-base
percentage in his three-year MLB career, spanning 1,133 plate appearances. He was worth minus-11 defense runs saved at first base last season, and he is already worth minus-1 defensive runs saved this season.
In 2023, Torkelson experienced a breakthrough by hitting 31 home runs, despite a .233 batting average, in 159 games. He posted a .666 OPS in his first 62 games and a .816 OPS in his final 97 games.
Torkelson needs to heat up quicker than last year’s pace.
Entering Tuesday, the Tigers ranked 25th among 30 teams in runs per game, averaging 3.3.
“For him, taking a deep breath,” Hinch said. “As an offense that collectively has not produced a bunch of runs, he is the one hitter that probably bears the burden of that the most in the middle of the order, trying to do a little bit too much.”
Torkelson has a 26% chase rate through 10 games this season, worse than the 23.6% chase rate through 159 games last season. His average exit velocity is down, too, from 91.8 mph in 2023 to 86.2 mph in 2024.
So far, Torkelson is swinging at too many pitches outside of the strike zone and isn’t hitting the ball hard enough.
But it’s still early in the season.
“He is a feel type of hitter despite being a power hitter,” Hinch said, “and once his timing comes, we’ve seen it last for a really long time. It all comes down to selection of pitches. I’ve seen him expand a little bit more than normal, and that’s not the recipe to turn it around. He’ll work on that.”