Tork's bombs, rally not enough as Detroit Tigers fall, 11-10, to K.C.: Game thread recap
Detroit Tigers (42-51) at Kansas City Royals (27-68)
When: 8:10 p.m. Tuesday.
Where: Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.
TV: Bally Sports Detroit.
Radio: WXYT-FM (97.1 in Detroit; Tigers radio affiliates).
Probable pitchers: Tigers LHP Tarik Skubal (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Royals LHP Daniel Lynch (2-4, 4.18 ERA).
TRENDING: Sticky stuff: Detroit Tigers' Spencer Torkelson calls out Royals pitcher Jordan Lyles
Tigers lineup:
2B Andy Ibáñez
1B Spencer Torkelson
C Jake Rogers
SS Javier Báez
DH Miguel Cabrera
LF Eric Haase
2B Zack Short
P Tarik Skubal
MONDAY'S VICTORY: Detroit Tigers chew up Kansas City bullpen in 3-2 win over Royals
Game notes: Of the 19 pitchers selected among 2018’s 43 first-rounders, No. 34 pick Daniel Lynch is definitely … one of them. OK, maybe that’s a bit harsh, considering the lefty from Virginia has lowered his ERA in each of his three seasons with the Royals; he’s down to 4.18 overall this season, thanks to a nifty four-game run at 2.63. (After all, at least he’s active this season, unlike the Tigers’ Casey Mise, the No. 1 pick, and the Royals’ Kris Bubic, the No. 40 pick — they’re both out with Tommy John surgery.)
But his FIP — an ERA-like number that measures how well a pitcher avoids homers, walks and HBPs and racks up strikeouts — is at 4.33 since June 20 — that’s not far off his season mark of 4.85 … which is pretty similar to last year’s 4.63 and 2021’s 4.82. After 50 starts, we might have an idea of who Lynch is: A lanky (in addition to being 6 feet 6, he’s in the 95th percentile for extension, defined as “How far off the mound … a pitcher releases the pitch”) lefty who compensates for his lack of strikeouts (he’s in the seventh percentile in strikeout rate) with a moderate lack of walks (70th percentile). Four current Tigers have career OPS’s above .970 against Lynch: Javier Báez (.973), Kerry Carpenter (1.000), Eric Haase (1.015) and Riley Greene (1.069).
That’s not to say Lynch hasn’t made some improvements: His hard-hit rate has plummeted this season, going from 47.7% in 2022, which was in the bottom 1% of all pitchers, to 31.2%, which is in the top 10%. One key appears to be his changeup, which has gone from a plus-3 run-value pitch last season to plus-10 in 2023, as he has upped the usage from 18.2% to 28.2%. We know, that’s a lot of numbers, but here’s a slightly more simple one: That changeup is dropping nearly two inches more this season, inducing hitters to pop it up a bit more. (It could also be why the batting average on balls in play — BABIP — against him has gone from .336 and .337 his first two seasons to .252 this year, despite a Royals defense that ranks among MLB’s worst.)
The Tigers have a 2018 draft pick of their own — ninth-rounder Tarik Skubal, who went at No. 255 overall — taking the mound for his third start of 2023. The lefty struck out six while holding the A’s hitless over four innings in his season debut on July 4, then struck out five while allowing two hits and two walks over four innings against the Jays on July 9. Based on the Royals’ offense — which ranks 29th at 3.70 runs a game, just ahead of the A’s at 3.62 and just behind the Tigers at 3.88 — we’d say to expect a start more like the former than the latter, good though they both were. One Royal to watch out for — and we could probably write this into the game notes for every K.C. game — is catcher Salvador Perez (if he plays; Perez sat out Monday's game with a hamstring issue suffered Sunday). The veteran has a 1.563 OPS in 16 plate appearances vs. Skubal, though it’s kind of an all-or-nothing phenomenon: Perez has seven hits (two singles, two doubles, three home runs) and seven strikeouts. (The other two plate appearances: A lineout to second base on April 25, 2021, and a lineout to center on Sept. 25, 2021.)
The Tigers and Royals continue their series for two more games this week, with an 8:10 p.m. start Wednesday and a 2:10 p.m. start Thursday. The Tigers then return to Comerica Park for a three-game set against the San Diego Padres, while the Royals head to New York for three games against the Yankees.
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Contact Ryan Ford at rford@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @theford.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers lose to Kansas City Royals, 11-10: Game thread recap
