The Detroit Tigers (11-17) defeated the New York Mets (16-14) 5-4 in Game 1 of the split doubleheader Wednesday afternoon. The Tigers — who entered with the lowest run total in Major League Baseball — tagged the Mets for six runs, fueled by Eric Haase‘s five RBI. Haase began his big day for the Tigers […]
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The Detroit Tigers (11-17) defeated the New York Mets (16-14) 5-4 in Game 1 of the split doubleheader Wednesday afternoon. The Tigers — who entered with the lowest run total in Major League Baseball — tagged the Mets for six runs, fueled by Eric Haase‘s five RBI.
Haase began his big day for the Tigers at the bottom of the first. After retiring the first batter, Joey Lucchesi allowed consecutive singles to Javier Báez and Riley Greene, which brought up Haase. The Tigers catcher brought them both home with an opposite-field home run to give Detroit a 3-0 lead.
The Mets responded quickly and got on the board at the top of the second. Tommy Pham drilled a solo home run to left field to cut the Mets’ deficit to 3-1. Two batters later, Mark Canha added the second solo home run of the inning to bring the score to 3-2.
The home run parade continued in the bottom of the third. Báez launched the first pitch of the inning for a long home run to increase the Tigers’ lead to 4-2. The former Met has dominated Lucchesi in his career, and his home run in Game 1 was his third against the southpaw.
New York muscled up themselves in the bottom of the fifth. Brett Baty led off the inning with a single up the middle, and then advanced to second base after an error in the outfield by Greene. Tomás Nido followed with a single through the infield, which advanced Baty to third base, and then home after Andy Ibañez made a throwing error to cut the Mets’ deficit to 4-3. Joey Wentz retired the next two batters, but couldn’t escape the inning cleanly. Francisco Lindor clubbed his fifth home run of the year to bring home Nido, and give the Mets a 5-4 lead.
After three scoreless innings from Jimmy Yacabonis, the Tigers answered back in the bottom of the eighth, retaking the lead for a final time. Adam Ottavino struggled at the beginning of the inning, allowing Matt Vierling and Báez to reach base with one out, partially due to Starling Marte misplaying a ball in right field that could have been an out. The Mets right-hander had the chance to escape the inning after he induced a ground-out from Greene, but Haase delivered for the Tigers again with an opposite-field single to give the Tigers a 6-5 lead.
Alex Lange retired the Mets with ease for his fourth save of the season. Baty walked against the right-hander with only one out in the inning, but Daniel Vogelbach flew out for the second out of the inning, and Brandon Nimmo struck out to end the game.
Lindor had a solid performance in Game 1 against the Tigers. The Met’s shortstop went 1-for-4 with a two-run home run, which gave New York a 5-4 lead in the top of the fifth. Lindor now has five home runs and 16 extra-base hits in 2023.
Max Scherzer takes the mound for his first start since being suspended in Game 2 of the split doubleheader. The former Tiger looked solid against the Dodgers in his last start, striking out three batters in three innings before his ejection.
Michael Lorenzen gets the start for the Tigers in Game 2. He had a horrible start in his last outing against the Brewers, allowing five earned runs across five innings.
Game 2 begins at 6:40 PM ET. The game is available to watch on SNY and Bally Sports Detroit. The game can be listened to on 880 WCBS and WEPN 1050.
The post Mets Cough Up Late Lead, Fall to Tigers, 6-5 first appeared on Metsmerized Online.
