Did Detroit Tigers’ Parker Meadows make MLB catch of the year?
“Days of Roar” podcast on Aug. 12, 2024, discussing the impressive game-saving catch by Parker Meadows in the eighth inning Aug. 7 against the Seattle Mariners.
Detroit Tigers shortstop Trey Sweeney, a prospect acquired in the Jack Flaherty trade making his MLB debut, hustled to first base on a ground ball smacked up the middle. The second baseman stopped the ball from getting into the outfield, but he had a wild throw to first, resulting in an infield single.
Just like that, Sweeney collected the first hit of his MLB career.
“It was a generous hit,” Sweeney said.
Both Sweeney and third baseman Jace Jung, a fellow prospect, made their MLB debuts in Friday’s game against the New York Yankees at Comerica Park, but despite the fresh blood, the Tigers lost, 3-0, in the opener of the three-game series.
The loss snapped a four-game winning streak.
“I think we saw a lot of good things from them,” manager A.J. Hinch said of Jung and Sweeney. “They played under control and did their part. I think both of them, especially Sweeney on defense, made a lot of plays look easy.”
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The Tigers (59-64), collecting five hits, finished 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position; the Yankees weren’t much better, finishing 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position, though they picked up runs on a sac fly and two solo homers. The Tigers used four relief pitchers, with left-hander Brant Hurter taking down the bulk of the innings.
Sweeney, 24, finished 1-for-3 with a groundout to first base, a swinging strikeout and an infield single in three plate appearances. Jung, 23, finished 0-for-2 with a seven-pitch walk, a five-pitch walk and back-to-back strikeouts looking in four trips to the plate.
“It’s been a whirlwind,” said Jung, promoted Thursday night from Triple-A Toledo. “I went from Charlotte yesterday, about this time, to here, so it’s been fun. I’m just trying to keep my feet underneath me when I get out there and make as many plays as I can for the team.”
Yankees right-hander Gerrit Cole walked Jung in the second and fourth innings, as the newcomer refused to chase high-velocity fastballs sprayed around the strike zone.
In his first plate appearance, Jung fell into a two-strike count within the first three pitches, but he fouled off an inside slider to stay alive before taking three pitches in a row, capped by two outside fastballs, for an impressive walk to begin his MLB career.
On defense, Sweeney handled all of his plays with ease at shortstop.
“It’s all just happened really fast,” Sweeney said. “I was with the Yankees last season, and then traded in December (to the Dodgers) and now traded here. It’s kind of a whirlwind, but it’s been fun.”
Tigers hitting coach Michael Brdar was ejected by home plate umpire Cory Blaser after Jung’s strikeout in the ninth inning. Both called strikeouts against Jung were pitches dotted on the edge of the zone, located up-and-away.
“We were pretty chirpy at the end,” Hinch said. “Some tough calls didn’t go our way. Looking back at them, it looked they were clipping the zone.”
After the ejection, Hinch jogged onto the field and talked to Blaser to de-escalate the situation.
“Appreciate the skipper backing me up,” Jung said. “That was awesome. I’m just trying to come out tomorrow and get a win.”
Facing Gerrit Cole
Cole, the reigning American League Cy Young winner, tossed six scoreless innings.
The Tigers missed a couple of scoring opportunities.
“He’s very creative,” Hinch said. “I’ve seen him navigate through lineups. He’s a thinking man’s pitcher, even though he’s got power and offspeed. He never really gives in. He pitches to a game plan, and he was very stubborn with it. We spoiled a couple things he wanted to do against us, but we never quite got the big hit to break out when we had pressure on him.”
Sweeney grounded out in the second inning to strand two runners, but not before Zach McKinstry struck out on three pitches. Jung struck out looking in the sixth to strand two runners in scoring position. For the strikeout, Cole painted a high-velocity fastball on the up-and-away edge of the strike zone.
Cole, who threw 95 pitches, worked around four hits and two walks throughout his six-inning performance, striking out eight. He had three strikeouts in the third inning.
Jung was thrown out trying to steal second base in the fourth inning. He was initially ruled safe, but the Yankees challenged, which led to the call being overturned.
“I said, ‘Oh God, make it,'” Jung said. “I didn’t make it. I thought I was in there, but after the replay, I didn’t know whether to stay out there because I knew I was out. It was fun, though. I had a blast running to second base. It was fun.”
The Tigers also missed a scoring chance in the seventh inning against right-handed reliever Luke Weaver, as Parker Meadows popped out with runners on second and third. Earlier in the seventh, Sweeney collected his first hit — an infield single — off Weaver’s middle-middle fastball.
Aaron Judge to the shrubs
The Yankees scored one run apiece in the first, fifth and eighth innings.
In the eighth, Aaron Judge — the 2022 AL MVP — destroyed a two-strike sinker from Hurter to the shrubs in center field at Comerica Park, producing a no-doubt solo home run. The ball traveled 431 feet with a 110 mph exit velocity.
Judge has 44 home runs in 121 games.
Hurter allowed two runs on four hits and zero walks with five strikeouts across six innings, throwing 78 pitches. He generated nine whiffs on 41 swings — a 22% whiff rate — with three sinkers, four sweepers and two changeups.
The Yankees also scored on Alex Verdugo’s sacrifice fly off right-handed reliever Beau Brieske in the first and Oswald Peraza’s solo home run off Hurter’s middle-middle sweeper in the fifth.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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