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GameThread: Tigers vs. Twins, 6:40 p.m.

2025-08-04T16:45:00-04:00

Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Detroit Tigers (65-48) vs. Minnesota Twins (52-59)

Time/Place: 6:40 p.m., Comerica Park
SB Nation Site: Twinkie Town
Media: FanDuel Sports Detroit, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network
Pitching Matchup: RHP Casey Mize (9-4, 3.43 ERA) vs. TBD

Bless You Boys will go quiet from Monday night until Tuesday morning

2025-08-04T15:00:00-04:00

Photo by Mark Cunningham/MLB Photos via Getty Images

The switch to our new publishing system starts at 5 pm ET on Monday and while the site will remain operational, we won’t be publishing again until sometime on Tuesday morning.

Good afternoon BYB readers. This is just a post to announce that the switch to our new publishing software will begin tonight at 5 p.m. ET. All SB Nation sites will be active as normal, but no new posts will be published until Tuesday.

So, we’ll post a gamethread for tonight’s Tigers-Twins matchup, but there will be no recap and no morning news posts on Tuesday.

The migration to WordPress is due to be completed on Tuesday August 5, by 9 am, but you know how something this complicated can work. We’re excited to try out some of the new features, but also expecting some bugs in the early days of this overhaul. I can’t say yet at what point the new look will show up for you all, but it probably won’t be until fairly late on Monday evening.

So we’ll be hanging out in the gamethread tonight as usual, and we hope to be back to delivering you Tigers coverage and discussion points for the wonderful commenting community here and our readership at large.

The Tigers have some weak opposition coming up the next two weeks, starting with a Twins club that stopped just a little bit short of a full teardown. Hopefully they can put any hopes of a stretch drive chase from the Guardians or Royals out of reach.

Thank you all as always for reading our work and for the generally considered and often hilarious commentary you all provide.

We’ll see you with a new look tomorrow. Go Tigers!

Game 114 Preview: Tigers return home to host Twins for 3-game set this week

2025-08-04T09:09:56-04:00

Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

After a tough road series at Philadelphia, Detroit takes on Minnesota at Comerica Park.

The Detroit Tigers return home this week after a short road trip to the City of Brotherly Love to face the Philadelphia Phillies, who took the series two games to one in a hard-fought battle by both teams.

The gang opens up a three-game series against fellow American League Central foe, the Minnesota Twins — the first of two sets coming up inside Comerica Park — on Monday evening. The Twinkies were major sellers at the trade deadline and have continued to sink since then, dropping two of three to the Cleveland Guardians this past weekend while winning just three of their last 10 matchups.

The Tigers also lagged over their last three outings but still sit among the best in the big leagues, just three games behind the MLB-best Milwaukee Brewers for the best record. Detroit’s lead in the ALC remains a robust eight games over the Guards and its run differential of plus-80 is fourth-best in the sport.

The home team sends out Casey Mize to the mound to defend their turf while the visitors are still trying to decide who to match up against him on Monday.

Detroit Tigers (65-48) vs. Minnesota Twins (52-59)

Time (ET): 6:40 p.m.
Place: Comerica Park, Detroit, Michigan
SB Nation Site: Twinkie Town
Media: FanDuel Sports Detroit, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network

Game 114: RHP Casey Mize (9-4, 3.43 ERA) vs. TBD

MIZE

Baseball Savant

The Tiger Beat: The Speedway Classic was a soggy mess

2025-08-04T09:00:00-04:00

Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Rain sure can mess up a fun idea.

This weekend was rough for multiple reasons. The inaugural MLB Speedway Classic was drowned out by rain and had to be rescheduled. And a bit closer to our home turf, the Tigers dropped two of three games to the Phillies (not a huge surprise, the Phillies are currently one of the best teams in baseball, but it would have been nice to win more than a single game against them).

But here’s to a better week ahead. The Tigers will be back on home soil and facing off against a freshly gutted Minnesota Twins squad, so this week should be a good test to see just how these second-half Tigers are going to fare in the final months of the season.

In some housekeeping news, things are going to look a little different around Bless You Boys and other SB Nation sites effective tomorrow. A new platform will be revealed, so please don’t be surprised when you visit the site tomorrow and things look different. All the content will be the same daily and weekly posts you’re accustomed to, just in a slightly different visual layout. And most importantly, the commenting system won’t be changing. We appreciate your patience as we adjust to the new system! Additionally, because of the migration to the new system, we will not be posting a recap on Monday evening, so we apologize to anyone who misses the game. We hope you love the new layout once you get accustomed to it!

Detroit Tigers News:

AJ Hinch shared his thoughts on Charlie Morton ahead of Morton’s first Tigers start. ($)
Weekend roster moves.

RHP Charlie Morton has been added to the active 26-man roster.

RHP Brenan Hanifee was optioned to Triple-A Toledo following last night’s game.
— Tigers PR (@DetroitTigersPR) August 2, 2025

AL Central News:

Things are progressing badly in Cleveland.

The lockers for Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz have been cleared out in the Guardians’ clubhouse.
— Zack Meisel (@ZackMeisel) August 1, 2025

MLB News:

The MLB Speedway classic is getting a lot of blowback, partially from the bad weather, and also because of some of the terrible seating.

If you’re going to an event to say you were at an event, then about $90 is totally worth it here. Now, believing you’re going to be able to watch the game becomes entirely different. At that point, you’re watching the video board. #SpeedwayClassic #MLB #Braves #Reds
— Maury Brown (@bizballmaury.bsky.social) 2025-08-03T16:58:22.285Z

But there were some positives about the game as well.
Gosh I love minor league baseball. (Yes I know the Portland Pickles aren’t an MiLB team, let’s just roll with it, okay?)

The Portland Pickles selected a random fan to take an at bat on fan appreciation night. He hit a 2 run homer.
— baseball highlights (@baseballhighlights.bsky.social) 2025-08-03T07:36:28.148Z

Jose Urquidy and Alex Cobb rehab, Hao-Yu Lee homers again in Mud Hens victory

2025-08-04T07:00:00-04:00

Scores, news, and notes from around the Detroit Tigers’ farm system for Sunday, August 3, 2025.

Toledo Mud Hens 4, St. Paul Saints 1 (box)

Randy Dobnak’s first appearance with the Detroit Tigers organization went very well, and the bullpen pitched very well to win this series five games to one.

Dobnak fired four innings of one run ball, allowing just a run in the top of the first. He walked three, allowed three hits, and struck out seven.

The Hens didn’t have much luck against Mick Abel either. The new Twins pitcher, acquired for Jhoan Duran, one-hit the Hens for five innings and struck out seven.

The Saints held a 1-0 run lead into the bottom of the sixth, but things changed quickly once they went to their bullpen. The second batter Christian MacLeod faced was Hao-Yu Lee, and the Tigers prospect, playing third base in this one, crushed home run number 12 on the year at 109.3 mph to tie the game.

Hao-Yu Lee crushes a solo homer to left center to tie the game for Toledo. Left his bat at 109.3 MPH and went an estimated 416 feet. pic.twitter.com/9STmj5at7V
— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) August 3, 2025

With two outs, Justyn-Henry Malloy doubled, and Jace Jung singled him in to seize a 2-1 lead. Tyler Mattison handled the first two outs in the fifth, but after a walk was succeeded by RJ Petit, who collected four outs in order with two strikeouts to get them through the sixth. New reliever Codi Heuer, acquired from the Rangers for cash at the deadline, fired a clean inning with a strikeout, sitting 95-96 mph. Chase Lee handled the eighth with ease.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Hens broke through again. Trey Sweeney led off with a single and Jace Jung walked with one out. The duo pulled off a double steal and then scored on a Ryan Kreidler single.

Lee collected the save.

Lee: 1-4, R, RBI, HR, K

Malloy: 1-3, R, 2B, BB, K

Jung: 1-3, R, RBI, BB

Dobnak: 4.0 IP, ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 7 K

Coming Up Next: The Hens head to Louisville this week for six starting on Tuesday evening.

Akron RubberDucks 4, Erie SeaWolves 1 (box)

The SeaWolves went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position to lose this one as Akron split the six-game set.

The SeaWolves scored first in this one. Chris Meyers reached on a Travis Bazzana error in the first and eventually scored on a Jake Holton single.

Austin Bergner got the start, and allowed Akron to tie things up in the third. The SeaWolves had two on in both the third and the fifth but couldn’t score a run.

Congrats to Austin Bergner, who with this strikeout, becomes the all-time @erie_seawolves strikeout leader with 279! pic.twitter.com/8raypSLDP5
— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) August 3, 2025

Josue Briceño with his second hit of the day, single to center pic.twitter.com/rLn4ZOfrxR
— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) August 3, 2025

Josue Briceno guns down Guy Lipscomb to end the sixth inning. pic.twitter.com/SiaJRv5VLf
— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) August 3, 2025

Blair Calvo took over from Bergner in the fifth, but allowed a run in the sixth on a Jorge Burgos solo shot. Andrew Magno handled the last two innings, allowing two runs, one earned.

Kevin McGonigle throws out Jorge Burgos at home after the bloop single by Guy Lipscomb pic.twitter.com/WoZIqxskQN
— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) August 3, 2025

Briceno: 2-4, K

Bigbie: 2-3, BB

Bergner: 4.2 IP, ER, 4 H, BB, 4 K

Coming Up Next: The SeaWolves come home to UPMC Park this week to start a series against the Richmond Flying Squirrels on Tuesday evening.

West Michigan Whitecaps 7, Dayton Dragons 5 (box)

Alex Cobb tossed two innings in a rehab appearance and the offense scored early and kept adding on to hold off the Dragons and take the series four games to two.

Seth Stephenson got things started with a single to lead off the bottom of the first. Austin Murr singled, and John Peck doubled in Stephenson. A wild pitch scored Murr, and after Izaac Pacheco struck out, Andrew Jenkins singled in Peck as well. Garrett Pennington grounded out, but got Jenkins to second, where an error on a Peyton Graham fly ball to left field scored him. 4-0 Whitecaps.

Cobb’s velocity was decent and he struck out two against two hits and a walk. He gave up a run in the second inning, and CJ Weins surrendered one in the third. Peck answered back with his tenth home run to lead off the bottom of the third for a 5-2 lead.

John Peck launches a solo homer to left to put West Michigan up 5-2. It’s his 10th home run of the season, and Peck is now 9-for-15 this week with 2 doubles, a homer, 2 walks, and 0 strikeouts. @ThatDanHasty on the call. pic.twitter.com/Ck66sE5hLr
— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) August 3, 2025

Here’s Alex Cobb’s full, 2-inning outing with the West Michigan Whitecaps today. pic.twitter.com/1uYyDu3rL1
— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) August 3, 2025

Rayner Castillo took over in the fourth as the bulk guy and allowed a run in the fifth. Again, the Whitecaps answered in the bottom half as the Dragons walked three straight hitters. A Pennington sacrifice fly made it 6-3.

In the top of the eighth, Castillo walked his final batter. Dariel Fregio took over and promptly allowed a two-run shot that made it 6-5 Whitecaps.

Again, the Whitecaps came right back in the bottom half. Peyton Graham led off with a single and took second on a throwing error. Archer Brookman reached on a fielders choice, with Graham getting to third ahead of an attempt to get the lead runner. Stephenson singled in Graham to make it 7-5.

Colin Field shut the door in the ninth for his fourth save.

Peck: 2-4, 3 R, 2 RBI, 2B, HR, BB

Stephenson: 2-5, R, RBI

Graham: 1-3, R, BB

Jenkins: 1-3, R, RBI, BB

Castillo (W, 3-5): 4.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 3 K

Coming Up Next: The Whitecaps welcome in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday night.

Lakeland Flying Tigers 6, Tampa Tarpons 5 (box)

Jose Urquidy made his first rehab appearance in his journey back from Tommy John surgery, and it went very well. The game turned into a back and forth duel that finally required 10 innings before the Flying Tigers walked it off.

Urquidy sat just shy of 93 mph in his inning of work, which is just about his career average. He struck out one swinging in a 1-2-3 frame, using his fourseamer, curveball, and changeup.

Gabriel Reyes took over and allowed single runs in the second and third before settling in to throw three scoreless frames.

The Flying Tigers tied the game 2-2 in the bottom of the third. Zach MacDonald walked and then stole second base with one out. Jackson Strong popped out, but Ricardo Hurtado doubled in the run, and Tampa walked the next three batters to force in the second run. Unfortunately, Clayton Campbell grounded out with the bases loaded to end the inning.

The score stayed knotted at 2-2 until the top of the seventh. Duque Hebbert allowed a go-ahead run, but in the bottom of the eighth, Stephen Hrustich tied things up again with his fourth home run. Logan Berrier allowed another go-ahead run in the top of the ninth, but in the bottom half, Enderson Delgado led off with a walk, and Samuel Gil doubled him to third with one out. Jackson Strong was the hero in this inning, lining a single into centerfield to tie the game at 4-4. Unfortunately, Hurtado grounded into a double play, sending this to extras.

Stephen Hrustich turns on this breaking ball for a game-tying solo home run in the 8th. @ZachSurdenik calls it. pic.twitter.com/WTtqMAEYMz
— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) August 3, 2025

Chris Williams Jr. took over in the top of the 10th. He got a pop out and a ground out, but on a swinging strikeout, Williams back foot slider skipped away and Delgado collected it and threw it away. The final out came on a liner back to Williams, but now the Flying Tigers had to answer back.

With Hurtado starting at second, Carson Rucker popped out, but Hrustich followed with a double that tied the game. A throwing error on the play got Hrustich to third, and an Abel Bastidas sacrifice fly was plenty deep enough to score the run and walk off the Tarpons.

Stephen Hrustich ties the game for the Flying Tigers once again with this RBI double in the 10th. Then he moves to 3rd when Roderick Arias throws the ball to Orlando. pic.twitter.com/treXpCpDsw
— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) August 3, 2025

Flying Tigers Walk-Off Win

Abel Bastidas with a sac fly to deep right and Stephen Hrustich scores to give Lakeland a 6-5 win. @ZachSurdenik on the call. pic.twitter.com/wIg5YbTS0B
— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) August 3, 2025

Hurtado: 2-5, 2 R, RBI, 2B

Hrustich: 2-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B, HR, BB

Bastidas: 1-3, 2 RBI, BB

Reyes: 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, BB, 2 K

Coming Up Next: The Flying Tigers welcome in the Bradenton Marauders on Tuesday evening.

Phillies 2, Tigers 0: October baseball in August

2025-08-03T21:33:32-04:00

Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

A shocking pitching and defensive duel ends up going against Detroit

The Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Phillies played the third and tiebreaking game of their series in Pennsylvania while the Midwest was covered in angry Canadian wildfire smoke. Yesterday’s game was a bit of a thriller, with the Tigers holding on for a 7-5 win to tie the series 1-1. Ultimately the Phillies took the series, two games to one. Shoutout to the Philly faithful, as every game felt like playoff baseball between two of the best teams in the majors.

For the Phillies, Cristopher Sánchez started the game. Sporting some impressive numbers and a 2.55 ERA, the lefty has been very good for the Phillies for the last three years. He got the game going by striking out Matt Vierling swinging on three pitches. Gleyber Torres flied out, and it took until the 8th pitch of the game for Sánchez to throw his first ball. If he was going to pound the zone effectively all game, the Tigers had their work cut out for them (Spoilers: he did). Just for fun, he struck out Jahmai Jones swinging too. 10 pitches, 9 of them strikes.

Charlie Morton was a last-second addition to the Tigers at the trade deadline. The 41 year old pitcher has struggled this season overall, but has been better of late, pitching to a 3.88 ERA his last 11 outings. It’s not ideal, but he was snagged for almost free just to add some veteran pitching and eat innings as the team gears up for the postseason.

Morton started the game by getting the first two batters to ground out. Bryce Harper broke up the 1st inning no-hitter by smoking a ball to the right field corner for a standup double. However, Morton wasn’t phased, getting J.T. Realmuto to ground out to first.

Spencer Torkleson didn’t want another inning like the first, so he led off with a first pitch single to left. Riley Greene struck out swinging on a ball down and away and Sánchez was getting a ton of swings and misses from Tigers hitters early on. Two ground balls led to two more outs and the end of the frame.

Philadelphia’s hitters started off strong in the 2nd. A single and a double put two on with nobody out. A grounder to second scored a run and moved Brandon Marsh to third. Edmundo Sosa popped out to Dillon Dingler in foul ground for the second, and Morton was on the verge of getting out of the jam with minimal damage. Bryson Stott hit a deep fly ball to left center that had run-scoring double written all over it, but Riley Greene made a highlight play to run it down, snagging the ball right as Vierling ran into him as well. Greene held on and the Phillies only got one run out of the initial jam.

Unreal grab by Riley Greene!

( : @MLB)pic.twitter.com/yMRKdMvx1M
— theScore (@theScore) August 3, 2025

The Tigers hitters responded by going 1-2-3 as Sánchez was dealing his nasty sinker-changeup combination with great command, as usual.

Morton got his first strikeout to start the third, getting Trea Turner on a wicked curveball. Kyle Schwarber’s shoelace got hit with a pitch, so he took first. Harper, who doubled his last time up, hit a bouncer that Tork snagged; he fired it to second and the throw was relayed back to Morton, who had sprinted over to first. Double play, harm averted.

Torres and Jones hit consecutive singles to kick off the top of the fourth inning. Tork battled but struck out. Greene put a ball in play...but it was right to the pitcher, who deftly snagged it and helped turn a double play. Two on, nobody out, nobody scores.

Meanwhile, Morton came back out and struck out the side, all three swinging. The Fetterization had begun, hopefully.

Sánchez matched Morton but by getting three straight groundouts, including one he fielded well as a pitcher.

Morton struck out Kepler swinging for his fourth consecutive swinging K. Then Sosa swinging for #5. Stott broke the streak, harmlessly flying out. Morton was DEALING and this surprising pitching duel was great.

The Tigers went meekly in the top of the sixth as Sánchez continued to dominate.

After Morton got the first out, Schwarber hit a double down the right field line. AJ Hinch opted to walk Harper to bring up Realmuto. A ground ball hit to Ibáñez was primed for a double play, but hesitation on Andy’s part on whether to tag the runner or not ended up being the difference, as only the runner at second was out due to Realmuto’s speed. Nick Castellanos hit one foul down the right field line that Wenceel Pérez was able to make a leaping grab on, ending the inning.

Charlie’s final line: 6 IP, 4H, 1ER, 1IBB, 6Ks. Heck of a debut for the old man.

The Tigers’ bats finally got going again in the top of the seventh. Jones and Tork hit consecutive singles. Greene bounced out but moved the runners up with one out. Ibáñez hit one right at the third baseman, who fired home to tag out Jones, who was trying to come home on contact. The ump tightened the zone a bit and it meant Sánchez walked Dingler, loading the bases. Pérez hit a grounder that led to a force at second, ending the threat. This was the second time the Tigers had put two on with nobody out and failed to bring anyone home in a 1-0 game.

Tyler Holton was the first man in from the Tigers bullpen. He pitched a clean inning, partly thanks to another web gem level play from a diving Greene.

In the top of the 8th, Sánchez was still out there due to his dominant, low pitch count that was in the mid 70s. Two grounders (one a fabulous defensive play by Stott) and a strikeout meant no Tigers reached base.

Holton stayed on the mound for his second inning. He retired the first two batters before facing Schwarber. The guy crushes lefties and showed it, destroying a ball for a solo home run to left center. Harper lined out to end things, but the Phillies were now up 2-0 as the Phillies summoned their new closer, Jhoan Duran.

Kerry Carpenter pinch-hit to lead off the 9th. He grounded out. Tork hit a grounder to third that was airmailed, allowing him to reach safely...except that the Phillies challenged and won, as Harper made a snag of the ball and got his toe down on the bag juuuuust before Tork got there. Wild play, and two outs. Riley Greene was up, his bat in a terrible slump. He swung through a few pitches, fouled a pitch, and struck out swinging on a 103 mph fastball and that was that.

The Phillies won 2-0 on the backs of impressive pitching and highlight reel defense. This entire series felt like playoff baseball and there’s definitely a chance these teams meet in the Fall Classic down the line. The Tigers head home to face the Minnesota Twins in a three game series at Comerica Park in a - hopefully - easier matchup.

GameThread: Tigers vs. Phillies, 7:10 p.m.

2025-08-03T19:00:00-04:00

Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Detroit Tigers (65-47) vs. Philadelphia Phillies (62-48)

Time/Place: 7:10 p.m., Citizens Bank Park
SB Nation Site: The Good Phight
Media: ESPN, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network
Pitching Matchup: RHP Charlie Morton (7-8, 5.42 ERA) vs. LHP Cristopher Sánchez (9-3, 2.55 ERA)

Game 113 Preview: Tigers look to take series from Phillies on national TV

2025-08-03T08:50:51-04:00

Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Detroit and Philadelphia will tangle on ESPN Sunday night.

Detroit Tigers (65-47) at Philadelphia Phillies (62-48)

Time (ET): 7:10 p.m.
Place: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
SB Nation Site: The Good Phight
Media: ESPN, Tigers Radio Network

Game 113: RHP Charlie Morton (7-8, 5.42 ERA) vs. LHP Cristopher Sánchez (9-3, 2.55 ERA)

MORTON

Baseball Savant

SÁNCHEZ

Baseball Savant