DETROIT -- On the day the Tigers set a new franchise record for most home runs allowed in a season, they avoided another piece of history with help from the long ball.
As rookie shortstop Willi Castro sprinted around the bases on his first Major League home run Sunday afternoon, he wasn¡¯t worried about the Tigers needing one more win to ensure they wouldn¡¯t suffer 60 home losses. He was worried whether the ball was going to go out, so he played it safe.
¡°It was nice to see Willi with a big smile on his face once he finally got in the dugout,¡± manager Ron Gardenhire said. ¡°He didn¡¯t smile until he got in the dugout.¡±
Gardenhire hadn¡¯t mentioned the mark to his players as the summer wore on and the losses piled up, figuring they had enough to worry about. As Castro crossed home plate with a big insurance run, the celebration was for him. Still, Gardenhire would¡¯ve been justified feeling some relief in Sunday¡¯s 6-3 win over the White Sox.
¡°I didn¡¯t know how many we had to win to get that out of the way,¡± Gardenhire said. ¡°But I¡¯m fine with that. Don¡¯t want to do that. Setting records in a negative way is not a good thing.¡±
The Tigers will not become the first team in modern Major League history to lose 60 home games in a season. They ensured that with the home run ball from unlikely sources, from Castro¡¯s first big league drive to Gordon Beckham¡¯s latest homer against his old team to Jeimer Candelario¡¯s first homer since mid-July.
¡°Crisis averted,¡± Beckham said.
Add in Victor Reyes¡¯ drive over the left-field fence, and the Tigers hit four homers for just the sixth game this season, including the second at Comerica Park. In so doing, they supported ace Matthew Boyd, who overcame an early long ball for his third win in his last four starts.
¡°It was a good team win,¡± Boyd said. ¡°The goal is always to win. It¡¯s really important, though, that we take every day and people understand the opportunity in front of them. We have an awesome opportunity to make the most of every pitch, every at-bat.
¡°What we do now, as has been [the case] for the last few months, sets the tone going forward for next year. Next year¡¯s not a foregone conclusion for where we¡¯re going to be in the standings, who¡¯s on the roster. Everything¡¯s up for grabs. That¡¯ll take care of itself when the time comes, but it¡¯s important to set the tone.¡±
Eloy Jim¨¦nez¡¯s two-run homer in the opening inning was the 39th home run of the season yielded by Boyd, one away from becoming Detroit¡¯s first pitcher to allow 40 in a season since Jack Morris in 1986. It was also the 242nd homer off Detroit pitching this season, breaking the single-season record set by a 1996 Tigers pitching staff that posted a 6.38 team ERA.
Boyd regrouped with help from catcher Grayson Greiner, who encouraged him to throw more changeups in his primarily fastball-slider mix, like he did in a homerless outing at Kansas City earlier this month. The adjustment didn¡¯t completely quiet the aggressive White Sox lineup, but it held hitters to singles and doubles.
¡°He¡¯s got a good changeup,¡± Greiner said. ¡°I've been trying to get him to throw the changeup more and they had nine righties in the lineup, so it made sense.¡±
It¡¯s an odd exclusion, since the changeup was Boyd¡¯s best pitch in his own opinion a few years ago. But when the left-hander developed his slider last year, he pushed the changeup aside.
¡°I fell in love with the slider,¡± Boyd said. ¡°And it has been really successful all year. Teams know what I¡¯m trying to do and I¡¯m a four-pitch pitcher, so I have to use all four pitches.¡±
On Sunday, Boyd threw 13 changeups, drawing four swings and misses and two softly-hit balls, according to Statcast.
Not until Yo¨¢n Moncada doubled and scored with two outs in the fifth inning did Chicago put up another run on Boyd (9-11), who struck out six batters. By that point, the Tigers had already posted five runs off White Sox starter Reynaldo L¨®pez (9-15), all off two-out hits.
Candelario¡¯s first homer since July 15 came a day after Gardenhire noted he needs to drive the ball more and recapture his power from the previous couple seasons, something Candelario hopes to work on in winter ball this coming offseason. His first-inning drive down the right-field line nullified the Jim¨¦nez homer and drew Detroit back even.
Beckham¡¯s second-inning solo homer, his second home run off his former team this season, put Detroit up for good an inning later. The big celebration, however, came for Castro¡¯s launch. A day after he had the hardest ball the Tigers hit all night turn into a ninth-inning double play, he picked up his revenge along with a memento.
¡°That felt great,¡± Castro said. ¡°It¡¯s something I was looking for it the last few days, looking for that home run. I didn¡¯t want to leave here without a home run.¡±
The Tigers went wild, mobbing him in the dugout. He didn¡¯t get the ball right away afterwards, but he got a dousing of beer, shaving cream and whatever else players could find lying around the clubhouse amidst the final homestand of the season.
"We want to win," Beckham said. "Silent treatment is for guys who are hitting a lot of homers. We want to hit some homers and make sure we're celebrating everything we can do."