Cincinnati – The Tigers were a credible road team last year, going 41-40. So far this season, not so much.
They had already been swept out of Arizona (three games) and Minnesota (four games) this season. And they were nine outs away from getting broomed out of Cincinnati, as well.
Until AJ Hinch played one of his lefty-slayer cards off the bench and altered the narrative.
Down 3-2 in the top of the seventh, he sent up rookie Hao-Yu Lee to pinch-hit against lefty reliever Sam Moll with a runner on and no outs.
Lee unloaded on a four-seam fastball, driving it 402 feet into the right-centerfield stands. His first big-league homer couldn’t have come at a better time because it propelled the Tigers to an 8-3 victory over the Reds in the series finale at Great American Ball Park.
Lee’s homer triggered a four-run inning.
The Tigers capitalized on another pitching decision by Reds’ manager Terry Francona. He brought in right-hander Pierce Johnson to face righty-swinging Spencer Torkelson, who had already doubled in the previous inning.
Torkelson detonated an elevated, 95-mph four-seamer. The ball left his bat at 107-mph and flew 421 feet into the left field seats.
Torkelson has homered in five straight games, tying the Tigers’ franchise record, last achieved by Marcus Thames in 2008. Hank Greenberg, Willie Horton, Rudy York and Vic Wertz are the only others to homer in five straight games.
From there, it was like the damn broke and the runs kept flowing.
Kerry Carpenter, who doubled in the Tigers’ first two runs, tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Matt Vierling to complete the four-run inning.
In the eighth, Gleyber Torres, took a 94.6 mph heater from Jose Franco into the right field seats for his second homer of the season.
Torkelson ended up with two doubles, a walk and a homer. He was 6 for 11 in the series with three doubles, three homers and three RBI.
Keider Montero battled his way through five innings, getting dinged by a couple of solo home runs – Nathaniel Lowe hit his fourth of the series and JJ Bleday his first as a Red.
All five hits against Montero were extra-base hits.
The Tigers’ bullpen, which had been hard-used in this series and had allowed 10 runs in the first two games, was back in lockdown mode.
Brant Hurter, Will Vest, Kyle Finnegan and Brenan Hanifee, just called up from Toledo Sunday morning to replace Connor Seabold (ankle), each pitched a scoreless inning.
Rookie Kevin McGonigle extended his on-base streak to 24 starts with a single and a walk. The last 21-year-old Tiger to have an on-base streak of at least that length was Mr. Tiger, Al Kaline, who ran off a 34-game streak in 1956.
This story will be updated
@Chris.McCosky@detroitnews.com
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This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Detroit Tigers salvage series finale vs. Cincinnati Reds