Detroit Tigers waste two home runs in 3-2 loss to Dodgers on Max Muncy's walk-off single

Los Angeles Dodgers left-handed reliever Caleb Ferguson, serving as an opener, struck out Matt Vierling and Andy Ibáñez to begin Tuesday's game. Then, Ferguson had to face Spencer Torkelson.

The result: Torkelson's 29th home run.

Home runs from Torkelson and Parker Meadows, two of the youngest players on the active roster, weren't enough for the Detroit Tigers in Tuesday's 3-2 loss to the Dodgers on a walk-off single from Max Muncy against right-handed reliever Alex Lange in the ninth inning at Dodger Stadium.

The Tigers (70-81) squandered the lead — provided by home runs from Torkelson and Meadows — in the bottom of the eighth inning and lost the game on Muncy's walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Everything changed when Lange inherited a runner on first base with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Chris Taylor, pinch-running for J.D. Martinez, stole second base and scored on David Peralta's ground-rule double down the left-field line off Lange's curveball to tie the game at two runs apiece.

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Lange stayed in the game for the ninth inning.

The game-winning run reached base with Mookie Betts' one-out single. Freddie Freeman lined out to center field for the second out, but Lange hit Will Smith to put runners on first and second base.

Muncy ended the game by smacking Lange's curveball into right field. The throw — from right fielder Kerry Carpenter to catcher Jake Rogers — was on target but too late to get Betts scoring from second base.

Before the meltdown

The first two plate appearances — strikeouts from Vierling and Ibáñez — were forgotten about when Torkelson swung at a six-pitch cutter from Ferguson. He sent the ball 385 feet to left-center field for a solo home run.

The solo homer put the Tigers ahead, 1-0, in the first inning.

Torkelson has 29 home runs in 148 games this season. He could become the first Tiger to hit 30-plus homers in a single season since Justin Upton in 2017 with the Tigers (125 games) and Los Angeles Angels (27 games).

The Dodgers started Ferguson, a left-handed reliever, as an opener in Tuesday's game. Right-hander Ryan Pepiot covered the next six innings. He allowed one run on five hits and one walk with four strikeouts.

The one run charged to Pepiot occurred in the third inning, when Meadows put the Tigers ahead, 2-0, by hitting a first-pitch 92.7 mph four-seam fastball for a solo home run. The 23-year-old has struggled against fastballs in September, but he didn't miss Pepiot's heater inside the strike zone.

Meadows drove the ball 387 feet to center field.

The Tigers finished 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. Meadows in the fifth inning, Carpenter in the sixth inning and Vierling in the seventh inning stranded runners in scoring position with two outs.

No. 16

Miguel Cabrera hit a single off Pepiot's seventh-pitch changeup to start the seventh inning.

The single marked the 3,167th hit of Cabrera's 21-year MLB career.

That hit pushed Cabrera past Adrián Beltré for 16th on the all-time list.

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In 2023, Cabrera has already passed Ichiro Suzuki (3,089), Dave Winfield (3,110), Álex Rodríguez (3,115), Tony Gwynn (3,141), Robin Yount (3,142), Paul Waner (3,152), George Brett (3,154) and Beltré (3,166). He is 18 hits away from taking down Cal Ripken Jr. with 11 games remaining.

The 40-year-old is hitting .258 (79-for-306) across 90 games in his final season.

The single from Cabrera sparked a scoring opportunity, but the Tigers came up empty when Zack Short bunted into a fielder's choice out with runners on the corners with no outs.

Pepiot, the pitcher, fielded the ball and threw to catcher Will Smith. Akil Baddoo, who replaced Cabrera as a pinch-runner, was tagged out at home plate. Baddoo wasn't close to scoring on the play.

The next two batters, Meadows and Vierling, lost seven-pitch battles and flew out to end the top of the seventh inning.

Bullpen-only

The Tigers used five relief pitchers to complete Tuesday's bullpen-only game: right-hander Miguel Díaz (⅔ innings), left-hander Tyler Holton (3⅓ innings), right-hander Beau Brieske (2⅓ innings), right-hander Jason Foley (1⅓ innings) and Lange.

Holton replaced Díaz with the bases loaded in the first inning and stranded the runners. He sent down all three batters in the second inning and three of four batters in the third inning.

The Dodgers finally found the scoreboard in the fourth inning, as ex-Tiger J.D. Martinez hammered an up-and-in 90.2 mph four-seam fastball for a 402-foot home run to center field.

Martinez's third homer in two games cut the Tigers' lead to 2-1. Otherwise, Holton was electric for the Tigers in his longest outing of the season. He threw 31 of 43 pitches for strikes.

One of the biggest moments in the game took place when the Dodgers had runners on first and second base with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning. Foley weaponized his sinker to get Freeman — hitting .336 with 26 home runs in 149 games — to ground into an inning-ending double play.

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

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers waste two HRs in 3-2 loss to Dodgers on walk-off single