SEATTLE — Gleyber Torres is putting Game 1 of the ALDS on his shoulders.
It’s not unnecessary pressure, but the Detroit Tigers second baseman takes responsibility as the leadoff hitter Saturday, Oct. 4, against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park, facing right-hander George Kirby. Not only will he be the first hitter in the game, but he also gets to be the first hitter in the best-of-five series.
He is determined to provide a quality plate appearance.
“I have to set the tone for the boys,” Torres said before Saturday’s game. “I didn’t do a good job during the wild card, but that’s the beauty of it. I’ve got another opportunity, another huge series to set the tone for the boys and try to do the job. Hopefully, I can keep doing work for the team.”
The Tigers won the best-of-three AL wild-card series over the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field, with Thursday’s 6-3 victory in Game 3 sending the Tigers to the ALDS.
A four-run seventh inning sparked the Tigers.
“It was huge for us,” Torres said.
The Tigers extended their lead from 2-1 to 6-1 in the seventh, thanks to positive results from Javier Báez (double), Parker Meadows (bunt single), Kerry Carpenter (intentional walk), Wenceel Pérez (two-RBI single), Spencer Torkelson (RBI single), Riley Greene (RBI single) and Dillon Dingler (walk).
Between Meadows’ single and Carpenter’s intentional walk, Torres swung at two pitches out of the strike zone for strikes to fall behind in the count, then grounded out on a fifth-pitch slider located out of the strike zone.
“I didn’t do my job in the moment,” said Torres, who went 2-for-13 with zero walks and three strikeouts in the wild-card series, “and then Wenceel hit the single, and everything felt better for us. I feel like in the last couple of weeks in the season, we didn’t really have that type of moment. We had that moment in the wild card.”
For the first time in a long time, the Tigers produced multiple hits in a row with runners in scoring position.
That needs to continue in the ALDS.
It starts with Torres.
“He’s got a lot of qualities as an offensive player,” manager A.J. Hinch said before Saturday’s game. “One that never really goes away is his zone discipline. Tonight, when you face a guy like Kirby, he makes it really hard because he lives on the edges with plus-plus stuff across the board. The tougher the at-bats we can give him, the harder we can make it on him. I like him at the top, whether it’s first or second, but against the starter, we’re trying to give him as many tough at-bats one through nine, and it starts with Gleyber.”
Matt Vierling injury update
The Tigers activated third baseman Colt Keith for the ALDS after he recovered from right rib cage inflammation. He served as the designated hitter and batted fifth in Game 1, facing right-hander George Kirby.
The Tigers won’t rush Keith into defense.
“We wanted his bat in the lineup,” Hinch said. “We’ll be somewhat conservative with the defense, just given all the different plays and angles and stress we can put on him, but he demonstrated that he can put together a competitive at-bat, good swings.”
While Keith is active, outfielder Matt Vierling isn’t ready to return from a left oblique strain, though he is making progress. He has been sidelined for most of the season with several injuries, but he hasn’t played since Aug. 9 because of the oblique injury.
Vierling took live batting practice during Friday’s workout at T-Mobile Park, alongside Keith. In that session, right-handed relievers Chris Paddack and Paul Sewald pitched to the rehabbing players, as neither were going to be included on the Tigers’ ALDS roster.
The Tigers were ready to activate Keith.
But Vierling has to wait until the ALCS, if the Tigers advance.
Vierling will stay with the Tigers to continue his rehab throughout the ALDS. (Right-hander Reese Olson might not be an option for the Tigers until the World Series, which begins Oct. 24, as he recovers from a right shoulder injury.)
A.J. Hinch evaluates Mariners
To get to the ALDS, the Mariners won the AL West with a 90-72 record.
The Mariners and the Toronto Blue Jays were the top two AL division winners, so those teams earned byes to the ALDS — skipping the wild-card round.
The Tigers posted a 2-4 record against the Mariners throughout the regular season: 2-1 from March 31-April 2 at T-Mobile Park and 0-3 from July 11-13 at Comerica Park.
Here’s how Hinch evaluates the Mariners: “At the beginning of the season, I think there’s a lot of feeling out amongst all teams. And then we saw them in July, and it was about as explosive of a team as we saw the entire year. We saw the home run power. We saw the aggressiveness on the bases. We saw some of their high-end starting pitching. We saw their ability to get to the finish line. That sounds like a complete team, and that’s why they’ve been able to complete their season in such a positive way. They can come at you with a lot of different ways, whether it’s small ball, aggressive baserunning, speed, power. We know about the arms. It’s historically always been a high-end pitching staff. There’s not a lot to not like about the Mariners. They won the AL West. I don’t know how long I have to compliment them, but I do know that they are a formidable opponent, and they’ve earned their way here. You’ve got to play well to beat them. They rarely beat themselves, and they play close games, and they’re used to it, and so are we. I love the challenge of this series.”
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’ Gleyber Torres is leadoff hitter in ALDS Game 1
