Chris McCoskyThe Detroit News
Detroit — Spencer Torkelson insists that he's not chasing the big numbers. He insists he's not trying to prove anything to anybody but himself.
And yet, when that curveball flew off his bat at 102 mph and sizzled through the gray sky into the left-field seats, capping a seven-run seventh inning in the Tigers' 7-3 win over the Kansas City Royals Thursday, he triumphantly raised his right index finger skyward as he commenced his trot around the bases.
"It just felt good," he said. "I haven't been feeling great lately and when I hit that, I knew it was gone. And it was almost like a relief."
It was home run No. 30 for Torkelson and it raised his RBI total to 93. There's validation in those numbers, even if Torkelson won't claim it. The last Tigers player to accumulate 30 homers and 90 RBI in a season was Miguel Cabrera, who last did it in 2016.
He is the first homegrown Tigers player to hit 30 homers since Curtis Granderson in 2009. He is just the fourth Tiger aged 23 or younger to reach the 30-homer mark, joining Rudy York (35 in 1937), Matt Nokes (32 in 1987), and Jason Thompson (31 in 1977).
"Those are good conversations to be in," Torkelson said. "But I don't try to look at the statistics. It's always about getting better and trusting the process. But it does feel good to have a nice round number right there."
Suddenly that gloomy day right before the All-Star break in Cleveland last season seems very far away. When he was hitting .197 with five home runs and manager AJ Hinch called him into his office to tell him he'd been optioned back to Triple-A.
Suddenly, the Tigers' decision to take him with the first overall pick in the draft in 2020 looks a lot smarter than it did then.
"I'm not trying to prove anything to anybody," he said. "I'm just trying to prove to myself how great I can be. Every single day I ask myself how can I get better. Just asking myself that question: How great can I be?"
What mattered most to Torkelson about his 30th homer was that it flipped the game and took the Tigers from three down to four up.
"That's what it's all about," he said.
It's the fourth straight win for the Tigers. It's the 10th win in the last 11 against teams from the Central Division, improving their inter-division mark to 33-18. And how about this one: Since their 2-9 start, the Tigers, 76-83, have played .500 baseball.
"I think we are close to being where we want to be," Torkelson said. "We didn't start well, but to just keep at it and trust that we're good enough and we can get it done, it's rewarding. It feels really good. But we still have a ways to go."
Before the seven-run outburst, though, things were looking grim for the Tigers.
Maybe it was the calm before the Miggy-fest storm coming this weekend. Maybe it was a slight energy lull after finishing off the final five innings of the suspended game from the night before — an 8-0 romp — before this one started.
More likely it was the fastball-changeup sedative Royals lefty Cole Ragans fed them for six-plus innings.
But the Tigers appeared to doze through the first six innings and found themselves in a 3-0 hole.
"He threw three elite pitches to me and he commanded every one," Torkelson said of Ragans.
With every start, Ragans has made the Texas Rangers regret trading him to Kansas City for Aroldis Chapman. This was his 12th start with the Royals. He came in with a 5-1 record and 2.34 ERA, holding hitters to a .192 average and .544 OPS.
And the Tigers managed just four hits through the first six innings with eight strikeouts. But Ragans has only finished seven innings once this season and he faltered in the seventh again, contributing to his demise by loading the bases with a pair of walks.
Rookie Parker Meadows broke the seal. The left-handed hitter had three of the Tigers’ five hits off Ragans. His third was an RBI single to right and it ended Ragans’ outing.
Against right-handed fireballer Carlos Hernandez, Matt Vierling ripped a two-run single to tie the game and Andy Ibanez poked an RBI single to right to put the Tigers up 4-3.
Torkelson then capped the inning, in which 12 Tigers came to the plate, with his blast.
"Tork believes in what he does and he believes in himself," manager AJ Hinch said. "And that's really important when you're riding that rollercoaster in the big leagues. That can beat you down, like it did early in his tenure. And it's going to challenge him with loftier expectations moving forward."
The last piece of the puzzle Thursday was rookie right-hander Sawyer Gipson-Long. Without his moxie early, that seven-run burst might not have gotten started. He did not have precise command in this one, but he had all the fight you could want.
"Most of the time you're going to have your B-stuff," he said. "And you have to figure out how to get guys out."
He gave up a two-out, unearned run in the first inning (after an error by first baseman Tyler Nevin) and his one true mistake pitch — a hanging slider to Michael Massey in the third inning — resulted in a two-run homer.
But, effectively mixing four-seam fastballs, sliders and changeups, he struck out six in five innings, including getting successive called third strikes on Nick Pratto, Drew Waters and Nick Loftin in the fourth inning. He mostly induced soft contact — 17 balls in play with an average exit velocity of 87 mph.
His battle level spiked in the fifth when Kyle Isbel led off with a single and went to third on a double by MJ Melendez. Second and third, no outs, and the heart of the Royals’ batting order was coming up.
Gipson-Long didn’t flinch. He got Bobby Witt Jr. to pop to shallow right, struck out Salvador Perez and got Massey to fly out to left.
"The ability to hang in there mentally and try to miss bats and miss barrels was big," Hinch said. "He was in a spot where we could still come back. But if he concedes there and we get down 5-0 or 6-0 -- we got the seven runs but it's unlikely you're going to do that the further you fall behind.
"Momentum can't start in an inning unless you are close."
It was Gipson-Long's fourth and final start of the season and he’s pitched himself into the competition for a rotation spot next spring. He finishes with a 2.70 ERA and .189 opponent batting average. Impressive for a 25-year-old who was an unranked prospect at that the start of the season in Double-A.
Yet another potential building block that's emerged this season.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter/X: @cmccosky
