Hao-Yu Lee belted a pinch-hit, go-ahead two-run homer and Spencer Torkelson had three hits and homered in his fifth straight game as the visiting Detroit Tigers rallied for an 8-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday in Cincinnati.
Kerry Carpenter doubled and tripled, while Gleyber Torres added three hits, including a two-run homer for the Tigers. Detroit salvaged the series finale and won for just the third time in 15 road games since opening the season with a pair of road wins in San Diego.
Torkelson matched the franchise record when he homered in the seventh, joining Marcus Thames (2008), Willie Horton (1969), Vic Wertz (1950), Hank Greenberg (1940) and Rudy York (1937) as the only Tigers to homer in five consecutive games.
Nathaniel Lowe and JJ Bleday belted solo homers for Cincinnati, which fell for just the second time in nine games.
The Tigers took advantage of a rare error by Cincinnati third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes to open a four-run rally in the seventh. Gleyber Torres reached base against lefty reliever and loser Sam Moll (1-1), who surrendered the go-ahead homer to Lee to put Detroit up, 4-3.
Lefty reliever Brant Hurter (3-0) pitched a perfect sixth to earn the win.
The Tigers claimed a 2-0 lead in the first inning when Kerry Carpenter doubled down the right field line with two outs and the bases loaded. Cincinnati starter Rhett Lowder settled down after the first, working out of a jam in the second and allowed just the two runs on six hits, striking out seven and walking one.
The Reds began their rally in the second off Detroit starter Keider Montero with Lowe’s fourth home run, with all four coming in the span of the three-game series. Two innings later, Bleday added his first homer with Cincinnati to tie the game.
Cincinnati took its only lead of the game in the fifth when Ke’Bryan Hayes tripled to open the inning. After a TJ Friedl ground out on a drawn-in infield, Matt McLain doubled to left to put the Reds ahead, 3-2. Montero was charged with three runs on five hits, striking out five and walking two.
The Tigers loaded the bases off reliever Brock Burke in the sixth with only one out. But Jake Rodgers struck out looking and Kevin McGonigle flew out to deep left-center, with center fielder TJ Friedl made a catch on the run in the middle of the warning track to end the inning.
–Field Level Media
