Detroit Tigers' Spencer Torkelson in the groove: 'It's just about getting the first one'

Spencer Torkelson didn't need to watch the ball fly.

Torkelson had just demolished a hanging slider for the longest home run of his career, a 446-foot no-doubter to left-center field, so he turned his back to the ball and flipped his bat in celebration before jogging around the bases.

"I knew it was gone," he said. "I just enjoyed it."

The Detroit Tigers completed their comeback over the Miami Marlins, winning 6-5 in Monday's series opener, with Torkelson's two-run home run off right-handed reliever Anthony Maldonado with two strikes and two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning.

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The homer — his second in as many days — extended his hitting streak to a career-high eight games.

"It definitely feels good," Torkelson said, who hit .224 with a .610 OPS in his first 37 games of the season before his back-to-back games with homers. "It's going to take a lot more than 40 a-little-below-average games to get me down."

Torkelson, a below-average defender at first base, is hitting .225 with two homers, 13 walks and 38 strikeouts across 39 games in his third MLB season — a total of 168 plate appearances — but in his most recent 32 trips to the plate, he is hitting .310 with two homers.

"Just to get that feeling, you kind of just got to feel it once," Torkelson said. "Like a lot of things in life, you feel it, and then it's repeatable and repeatable and repeatable. It's just about getting the first one."

Torkelson, who hit 31 homers last season, failed to launch a so-called "Tork Bomb" in 19 spring training games as well as his his first 37 regular-season games. There were external questions about a potential demotion to Triple-A Toledo, but internally, the Tigers never talked about sending Torkelson to the Mud Hens.

It was a frustrating 37 games, especially for Torkelson.

"This was a big one," manager A.J. Hinch said. "I'm really happy for him. You could see the emotion when he hit it. It's been a long stretch for him, and to come up big in a big moment with a big swing, literally a game-changer. Very rewarding for a lot of work for him and the people around him."

His OPS jumped from .610 to .644 in two days from powerful swings in his 38th and 39 games.

"It definitely wasn't easy," Torkelson said. "Maybe a little frustrated here and there, but gosh, I never lost belief myself, and I always knew that it would happen. It took a little longer than expected and than I would have wanted, but that's this beautiful game."

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Torkelson, whose timing has been late on fastballs all season, hit hanging sliders for both home runs — a 78.3 mph sweeper Sunday and an 84.7 mph slider Monday.

He has a .195 batting average against fastballs, along with an even more concerning .184 expected batting average against fastballs. He connected on fastballs for three of nine hits during the eight-game hitting streak.

But Torkelson hammered sliders — a pair of mistake pitches over the heart of the plate — for his two home runs.

"Just centering a ball to any part of the park," Hinch said, "but the pull side these last two days. He's a dangerous hitter. I think he doesn't get credit for that during these lulls, but he's demonstrated it. He did not sneak up on home run totals last year. He's very talented, but it's been a tough stretch, and he stayed consistent, not just the last two days, but throughout this whole process. Hopefully, he can continue the good swings."

Torkelson felt a weight off his shoulders in Sunday's 9-3 loss to the Houston Astros, when he hit right-handed reliever Seth Martinez's hanger for a 405-foot two-run home run to left with the Tigers down eight runs in the ninth inning.

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The homer in Sunday's loss snapped the drought.

Then, Torkelson hit the repeat button in Monday's win against the Marlins.

This time, he flipped his bat to celebrate a clutch two-run home run and what could be the true spark to a season-long breakthrough, as long as he gets on time for high-velocity fastballs. He likes his swing right now.

"It's where I want it to be," Torkelson said.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Spencer Torkelson unlocks the 'Tork bomb' and 'definitely feels good'