That’s a dazzling performance on a rainy Sunday at Fenway Park. I understand that the Tigers may have caught Garrett Crotchet in a relatively vulnerable position, coming off the worst start of his career. As I said, I know the conditions weren’t great, but that didn’t seem to bother Detroit’s pitching. This is a team that has had well-documented struggles against left-handed pitching, and I didn’t really feel great about this group having to go up against one of the elite left-handers in the sport. They played arguably their best game of the season so far.
I said it in the video, but any team that potentially gets the best versions of Tarik Skubal and Framber Valdez in a playoff series is likely to have a very difficult time winning it. Except for some wonky starts in Minnesota, both Skubal and Valdez have been fantastic, pitching back to back so far this season. Stuff-wise, I think that’s the best that Framber has looked since becoming a Detroit Tiger. He was able to grind his way through seven quality innings against the Royals on a day when he didn’t really have his off-speed stuff working. He had the swing and miss going today. The curveball was dropping, and the change-up was especially dazzling. That was a weapon we haven’t seen a whole lot of so far this season, but it was on full display today.
Garrett Crochet will be seeing Dillon Dingler in his nightmares tonight. Ding had 3 hits against the Red Sox lefty, including a home run and a double. You talk about a guy who has emerged as one of the elite bats in this lineup, Dillon Dingler is a hungry dog right now. He had an excellent year last season, and we know how good he is defensively, but the fact that he has been probably this team‘s best run producer so far this season speaks volumes. There’s going to be some cooling off at some point, but Detroit just needs to ride this wave. Dillon Dingler is emerging as a star in this league.
Detroit wraps up this four-game series tomorrow in Boston on Marathon day. It’s important to note that Detroit will start this game at 11 AM. It’s a rather unusual start time, but Jack Flaherty will be getting the ball for the Tigers, going up against veteran, right-handed Sonny Gray.