Torres and Meadows ignited Detroit's offense, delivering clutch hits and keeping the Tigers in a hard-fought spring contest that ultimately slipped away.
The Detroit Tigers and Colorado Rockies put on quite a show at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick on Monday afternoon, with the Rockies holding on for a 6-5 victory after nine innings of traded blows and lead changes throughout.
Gleyber Torres was the offensive catalyst for Detroit, going 2-for-3 with 3 RBI in another strong spring outing. The veteran second baseman delivered a two-run single in the third that scored both Parker Meadows and Javier Báez to give the Tigers their first lead of the game, then added a ground-rule double down the right-field line in the fifth to score Meadows again and knot the game at four. Torres has looked comfortable at the plate this spring and appears to be in a good rhythm heading into the regular season.
Parker Meadows complemented Torres nicely, going 2-for-3 with a stolen base and an RBI ground-rule double of his own in the fifth. His stolen base in the third helped set up the Torres single, and his double in the fifth kept Detroit in the game after Colorado had taken the lead. Meadows also showed his range in center field throughout the afternoon.
The Rockies kept answering, though. TJ Rumfield hit a solo home run in the fourth, and Kyle Karros added a two-run triple later in the same frame to push the advantage to 4-2. Colorado added another run in the sixth on an RBI single by Brenton Doyle and tacked on more in the seventh on a Hunter Goodman RBI single, giving the Rockies a 6-4 cushion heading into the final innings.
On the mound, Jack Flaherty started for Detroit and worked into the fifth inning, giving up four runs on the Troy Johnston two-run home run in the third and the Rumfield and Karros extra-base hits in the fourth. Kyle Finnegan came on in the fifth and threw a clean frame, retiring the side in order with three strikeouts. Will Vest followed in the sixth but ran into trouble, allowing the go-ahead run to score on the Doyle RBI single. Tyler Holton worked the seventh and gave up the Hunter Goodman RBI single before giving way to Connor Seabold to start the eighth.
Seabold, the newest addition to the Tigers roster, made his debut in a Detroit uniform and allowed a pair of singles before giving way to Enmanuel De Jesus. De Jesus got out of the jam by inducing a ground ball from Edouard Julien that turned into an inning-ending double play.
Detroit chipped away in the eighth when Riley Greene doubled home Jake Rogers, trimming the deficit to two. Kevin McGonigle then ripped a sharp single to center at 108 MPH off the bat, with center fielder Brenton Doyle throwing out a baserunner at the plate to keep the score at 6-5.
Detroit made one final push in the ninth but couldn't complete the comeback. Zach McKinstry grounded out, Trei Cruz struck out swinging, and after Victor Vodnik came on in relief for Colorado, John Peck struck out to end the game.
Follow me on "X" @rogcastbaseball