Spencer Torkelson homered and drove in three runs and the red-hot Detroit Tigers moved closer to an American League wild-card berth with a 7-1 win over the visiting Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday night.
Parker Meadows had three hits, including a solo homer, as Detroit (84-74) won for the eighth time in nine games. Riley Greene and Dillon Dingler each added two hits and an RBI.
Detroit starter Keider Montero gave up one run and four hits in 2 2/3 innings. Sean Guenther (3-0) tossed two innings of scoreless relief and collected the win. Top prospect Jackson Jobe recorded the last three outs in his major league debut.
The Tigers are tied with the Royals, who defeated the Washington Nationals on Wednesday, for the AL’s second and third wild cards. The Mariners are 2 1/2 games back after beating the Houston Astros on Wednesday, and Minnesota was level with Seattle pending the Twins’ result against the Miami Marlins.
Tampa Bay (78-80) had yielded three runs or fewer in eight consecutive games prior to Wednesday.
Zack Littell (8-10) gave up three runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings. He fanned seven without issuing a walk. Junior Caminero homered for the Rays’ lone run.
Littell carried a 20-inning scoreless streak into the game. Meadows ended that on Littell’s second pitch, drilling a slider over the right field wall for his ninth homer. The Tigers weren’t through scoring in the inning. Greene legged out a two-out double, then scored on Wenceel Perez’s single to right.
Caminero put the Rays on the board leading off the third. He blasted Montero’s first-pitch fastball over the left-center field wall for his fifth homer.
Detroit matched that output in the bottom of the inning. Meadows led off with a single and Matt Vierling supplied a one-out single. Meadows scored from second on Greene’s line-drive single to right.
With Brenan Hanifee on the mound, the Rays had two baserunners in the sixth. Tyler Holton then entered the game and struck out pinch hitter Dylan Carlson to snuff out that threat.
Perez led off the bottom of the sixth with a walk. One out later, Manuel Rodriguez replaced Richard Lovelady on the mound. That move backfired when Torkelson launched his 10th homer over the left field wall.
The Tigers tacked on two more runs in the eighth on Torkelson’s RBI double and Dingler’s run-scoring single.