It was always going to be a bullpen game, but Friday’s Detroit Tigers game featured a lot more of the bullpen than many expected.
And after the bullpen did its job, Spencer Torkelson walked it off with an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth to give the Tigers a 3-2 win over the Blue Jays at Comerica Park in Detroit on Friday, May 15.
Torkelson’s game-winning RBI came after center fielder Matt Vierling walked and stole second base with two outs. It was Torkelson’s only hit of the game and the most important knock for a Tigers team that had lost five out of its last six games.
Righty Drew Anderson pitched a season-high four scoreless innings, and closer Kenley Jansen had his fourth straight scoreless outing to keep the game tied at 2-2 in the late innings. Jansen finished with the win after Torkelson’s RBI knock.
Greene ties it up in the sixth
Tigers catcher Dillon Dingler led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a double and, after advancing to third on a Colt Keith groundout, scored the tying run on a Riley Greene double down the right field line.
Riley ties it up pic.twitter.com/h1MadYh1N2
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) May 16, 2026
It was Greene’s 23rd RBI of the season, second on the team behind Dingler (28), with the double also extending his hitting streak to nine games, the longest active streak in the majors. The hit also extended Greene’s on-base streak to 25 games, lengthening his career high and marking the second-longest active streak in MLB.
Baserunning wins and blunders
After a one-out walk to shortstop Kevin McGonigle in the bottom of the third inning, Dingler singled to advance McGonigle to second base. After a Colt Keith strikeout, the rookie took third base on a wild pitch from Yesavage, then scored in the same Greene at-bat on another wild pitch. The heads-up baserunning from McGonigle cut Toronto’s lead to 2-1.
The Tigers got another scoring opportunity after a Hao-Yu Lee walk in the bottom of the fifth inning when Lee took second base on a Yesavage wild pitch, his third of the game. McGonigle then hit a hard liner to center field which Lee misread, sprinting to third base. However, Blue Jays center fielder Daulton Varsho made a diving grab and doubled up Lee at second base, with Lee’s baserunning mistake immediately erasing his heads-up play.
It exemplified the importance of baserunning for this Tigers team, especially during this offensive cold streak. McGonigle took advantage of back-to-back Yesavage mistakes, and Lee looked to have done the same before paying for his error on the basepaths.
TORK TORK TORK 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/XCAHgEmgO9
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) May 16, 2026
Madden exits game early, Anderson saves bullpen
Replacing opener Brenan Hanifee, who gave up a leadoff double to Blue Jays third baseman Kazuma Okamoto on the first pitch of the second inning, lefty Brant Hurter got two outs before walking second baseman Ernie Clement and allowing a two-RBI double to shortstop Andres Gimenez for the first score of the game. Righty Ty Madden replaced Hurter with two outs in the second, with the Tigers using three pitchers to get the first six outs of the game.
Madden would get George Springer to fly out to end the second, but that’s the only out he got on the night.
In the top of the third inning, Madden, who was expected to pitch in a bulk innings role, took a line drive to his right arm off the bat of Blue Jays left fielder Yohendrick Pinango. He exited the game shortly after, and the Tigers turned to Burch Smith, their fourth pitcher of the night in just the third inning.
Smith pitched two scoreless innings before handing the ball to righty Drew Anderson in the fifth inning, who took the bulk role himself by completing four scoreless innings to mark his longest outing of the season.
If not for Anderson’s late-inning performance, the Tigers may have had to dig deeper into an already-stretched bullpen. And on a night in which Detroit’s bats struggled to bring runners home, it was Anderson who was most responsible for keeping the Tigers competitive throughout.
The Tigers and Blue Jays play the second game of their weekend series at Comerica Park on Saturday at 1:10 p.m. ET, with Tigers starter Casey Mize set to make his return from injury.
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You can reach Christian at cromo@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Spencer Torkelson walks off Blue Jays for Tigers win