LAKELAND, FL – The Detroit Tigers tied the Baltimore Orioles, 4-4, on Sunday, Feb. 22, at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium in spring training.
Detroit is 1-1 in Grapefruit League play.
What happened
The Tigers loaded the bases in the second inning against right-hander Kyle Bradish with Spencer Torkelson’s double, Wenceel Pérez’s single and Zach McKinstry’s single.
That set the table for Max Anderson.
The 23-year-old second baseman ranks as the Tigers’ No. 7 prospect, according to Baseball America.
Facing Bradish, Anderson jumped a first-pitch 95.1 mph sinker.
He punched the ball back up the middle and into center field with a 99.8 mph exit velocity, driving in two runs and tying the game at 2-2.
Anderson, a 2023 second-round pick out of Nebraska, hit .267 last season with five home runs, eight walks (5.4% walk rate) and 28 strikeouts (19% strikeout rate) across 32 games for Triple-A Toledo. He also played 90 games for Double-A Erie.
The Orioles, though, secured a 4-3 lead in the fourth inning, thanks to a double from José Barrero off right-handed reliever Tanner Rainey, who walked the first two batters of the inning.
The walks came back to haunt Rainey.
In the ninth, Max Clark – the Tigers’ top pick in 2023 and their No. 2 prospect – tied the game, 4-4, with a two-out single.
Starting off
Right-hander Jack Flaherty was scheduled to throw one inning.
That’s exactly what he did, allowing one run on one hit and no walks with one strikeout on 18 pitches, of which 11 were strikes. He faced Colton Cowser, Pete Alonso, Heston Kjerstad and Coby Mayo.
Kjerstad – the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 draft – pulled a down-and-in slider with two strikes and two outs into the wind, moving from left to right. His swing delivered a solo home run to right-center field.
It put the Orioles ahead, 1-0.
Aside from Kjerstad’s wind-aided homer, Flaherty retired the other three batters in his first spring start – striking out Cowser with an elevated fastball, inducing a groundout from Alonso with a slider below the strike zone and getting a lineout of Mayo on a first-pitch fastball.
For his 18 pitches, Flaherty threw nine four-seam fastballs, three curveballs, three sliders, two changeups and one sinker, generating both of his whiffs with his fastball. His fastball averaged 93.7 mph and maxed out at 95.2 mph.
[ MUST LISTEN: Make “Days of Roar” your go-to Detroit Tigers podcast, available anywhere you listen to podcasts (Apple, Spotify) ]
At the plate
Although Anderson stole the highlight, Austin Slater – a nine-year MLB veteran with a track record of crushing left-handed pitching – made his presence felt in the third inning.
And Slater did it against a right-handed pitcher.
He pushed an up-and-away 92.5 mph fastball from righty reliever Brandon Young into the wind – and the ball carried all the way over the right-field wall for a solo home run.
It wouldn’t have been a homer without the wind.
On the mound
After Flaherty, the Tigers rolled out eight relievers, including seven from big-league camp: Rainey, right-hander Scott Effross, left-hander Konnor Pilkington, left-hander Bryan Sammons, left-hander Sean Guenther, right-hander Dylan Smith and right-hander Tyler Mattison.
Effross, Pilkington and Rainey allowed one run apiece, but of the seven relievers from big-league camp, only Rainey was chased by the Orioles before fulfilling the plan for his innings.
Rainey threw just eight of 20 pitches for strikes.
In the third inning, Pete Alonso – the former Met who signed a five-year, $155 million contract this offseason – put the Orioles ahead, 3-2, with a solo home run off Pilkington’s two-strike slider at the bottom of the strike zone. He hit the ball 411 feet to left-center field (into the wind) with a 107.7 mph exit velocity.
Sammons needed 41 pitches to take down two innings, keeping the Orioles from scoring despite two hits and one walk. Both Samuel Basallo (the Orioles’ No. 1 prospect) and Enrique Bradfield Jr. (the Orioles’ No. 8 prospect) struck out on fastballs.
The only innings without a baserunner for the Orioles?
Those came from Guenther in the seventh inning with three groundouts in a row, then Mattison in the ninth inning with two strikeouts and one groundout.
Three stars
1. Max Anderson, 2. Austin Slater, 3. Bryan Sammons.
Next up
Monday vs. Minnesota Twins in Lakeland (1:05 p.m.)
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
Listen to our weekly Tigers show “Days of Roar” every Monday afternoon during the season and Tuesday afternoon during the offseason on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Max Clark, Max Anderson drive in runs as Detroit Tigers tie Orioles