Tigers vs. Reds: Series Recap

In a season where runs have been at a premium, the Tigers defeated the Reds on Tuesday in a “new” WBA slugfest. Reds starter Ryan Casano was cruising – aided by a controversial double play call in the second – until the Tigers’ bats came alive in the third inning for five runs and two more in the fourth, highlighted by a three run home run for Sean McDonnell who led the Tigers with 5 RBI. McDonnell started for the Tigers but was pulled in the fourth inning after his team had a seven-run lead. The move almost backfired for Detroit as the Reds each collected hits and scored six runs off of Mikey Ferro, but it was too little too late as Ferro shut the door in the sixth to give the Tigers their first win of the 2023 campaign (Reds 6, Tigers 7).

The frustrated Reds jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in game two off of starter Sean McDonnell with each player driving in a run. After the first, the Tigers pitching platoon of McDonnell and Ferro would shut the Reds down for the rest of the day. Detroit would chip away at the deficit with rookie Vincent Marra’s first career home run in the bottom of the first. Then they would manufacture two more runs in the fourth thanks to Alex Santiago and Sean McDonnell. The Tigers would come all the way back in the fifth inning and take the lead 5-4 with Ferro again shutting the door on the Reds in the last frame. Throughout the game, Tigers pitcher Mikey Ferro was trying to fire up his team by saying, “momentum is big.” Momentum propelled Detroit on Tuesday and they can only hope to carry this momentum through the second half of the year and into the playoffs. For the Reds, they need to regroup and find their offense which ties for last in the league with 17 RBI on the year. The Reds and Tigers split the season series and may be squaring off in the wild card game come August. (Tigers 5, Reds 4).