MINNEAPOLIS –
On a day when the Tigers ran out a procession of relievers, Chafin was the seventh and final arm.
Said Chafin: “I knew I was pretty much going to go slider, slider, slider, slider, slider until we got the result we wanted. Fortunately enough, he was swinging at everything but the rosin bag.”\n\nChafin threw five consecutive sliders to Kepler, four of them below the strike zone. Kepler fouled off one and missed three. Up came right-handed hitter Gary Sánchez, who saw three sinkers before popping out behind first base on a running catch from
“If they continue fielding us that way, we’re going to take the bunt,” Candelario said. “We want to create momentum. We want to have men in scoring position. We want to be on base. So if they give it to us, we’re going to take it.”\n\nHill nearly took a run with his legs. He beat Carlos Correa’s throw to turn what looked like a routine grounder into an infield single leading off the third, then stole second base. Harold Castro’s groundout moved him to third, then he took off when Bundy’s 1-2 breaking ball to
“My only question to the home-plate umpire was: Did he actually see a tag?” Hinch said. “Replay’s fine, but if you don’t get it right on the front end, it’s hard to correct on the back end.”\n\nAfter all the small-ball, ironically, both Tigers runs in regulation came on solo homers for Harold Castro, leading off the sixth and eighth. Castro came back up in the ninth with the bases loaded against lefty Caleb Thielbar, when …
**Hittin’ Harold becomes Sittin’ Harold** \nWhile Castro was hot, he faced a difficult lefty-lefty matchup against Thielbar. Though Miguel Cabrera was 1-for-6 in his career against Thielbar, Hinch wanted the right-handed bat with experience on big hits rather than the hot hand.\n\n“I don’t know if I’ve ever pinch-hit for somebody that has two homers,” Hinch said, “but that’s the perfect scenario with Miggy on the bench.”\n\nCabrera worked a full count against Thielbar before taking a borderline pitch around the bottom of the strike zone, garnering a called third strike from plate umpire Charlie Ramos. Cabrera was irate as he returned to the dugout.\n\nOnce Schoop flew out to right, the Tigers had to replace Harold Castro at shortstop. Javier Báez was at designated hitter, so rather than lose the DH slot, the Tigers moved Willi Castro in from left field to short, where he played for most of his pro career. His throwing error in the 10th put Byron Buxton on base before the Tigers escaped.\n\n**Soto for the 8th** \nOnce the Tigers tied it in the eighth, closer Gregory Soto retired the middle of the Twins' lineup in order. He came back out for the ninth before hitting pinch-hitter Kyle Garlick with one out, prompting Hinch to bring in