| Detroit Free Press
Detroit Tigers ‘Tyler Alexander’s Feeling Good’ in Springtime
Left-hander Tyler Alexander of the Detroit Tigers talks Sunday, February 28, 2021 about his first Grapefruit League game.
Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press
LAKELAND, Fla. Willi Castro wants to make his mark on the everyday shortstop that the Detroit Tigers have entrusted to him this season. He hopes to hold on, but it’s important for him to show that last season was not a fluke.
The 23-year-old started the year strong and started a 458-foot home race on the first official field he has seen since September last year. The Tigers exploded for six runs in the first innings, and they won 10-2 over the Philadelphia Phillies in the Grapefruit League start at Joker Marchant Stadium on Sunday.
The match lasted seven innings.
“The first innings, the quality of the bat, I thought extraordinarily,” said manager AJ Hinch. “Really from top to bottom, the whole innings, whether it was running matches, hitting the ball hard, RBI opportunity. There’s a lot to get out of the first innings.”
FOLLOWING: Pitching schedules for Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal, Matt Manning in spring training
WAITING GAME: Here’s when Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson can arrive in MLB
Left-hander Tyler Alexander, the Tigers’ starter, gave up a second run to Adam Haseley (86.4 mph cutter) in the top of the first innings, but sat down. He allowed two runs in two overs, with three strokes, zero runs and one stroke.
Alexander uses 30 stands (22 strikes).
“I hope to maybe get a starting role,” Alexander said. “Leadoff man hits a homer on a cutter that I left a bit behind, and I give another double on a 0-2 slider. Other than that, I thought my speed was pretty good. My biggest thing was that I wanted to get out early and attack, guys go ahead with my fast ball. ‘
The Tigers travel to Tampa on Monday for a game at 1:05 p.m. with the New York Yankees. Right-hander Kyle Funkhouser starts. On the other hand, the Detroit bats will face right-hander Gerrit Cole, a three-time All-Star.
Turn ends, fans boo
After 27 places from Nova and another 23 from Jonathan Hennigan – who jointly allowed five runs and six runs – Phillies manager Joe Girardi finished the first innings, even though the Tigers loaded the base with two outs.
The crowd cheered the Phillies as they came off the field.
[ Miguel Cabrera’s chase of history is something we haven’t seen often in Detroit ]
Castro’s fault
The biggest concern for Castro, who remains on shortstop, is his defense. One side of the debate is that he needs more experience to develop. (He has only played 66 games in two seasons.) On the other hand, Castro declares that a much better pass is on the second base, where his accuracy of the arm is not so much tested.
In the top of the third series, Castro swung to his left and tried a setback to cover second baseman Harold Castro who covered the base in the middle. But Harold was not ready for Willi’s flip and assumed he would throw to first base. The wrong communication led to an error.
Catchers start strong
Three of the four catchers competing for the backup work: Grayson Greiner, Dustin Garneau and Eric Haase. Each of them collected a hit, with Haase hitting a home game in the sixth innings and Greiner adding a turn.
Jake Rogers is the other catcher in competition.
[ What AJ Hinch wants to see in the Tigers’ young catchers ]
Stand in a row
Here’s how the Tigers started the game: Willi Castro (SS), Jeimer Candelario (3B), Christin Stewart (LF), Wilson Ramos (DH), Harold Castro (2B), JaCoby Jones (CF), Akil Baddoo (RF) ), Daniel Pinero (1B) and Dustin Garneau (C).
Pinero got the start because the team does not have another first baseman to use as Hinch Candelario wants to keep on third base for now. The team’s number 1 prospect, Spencer Torkelson, would have played at first or third base in this game – if he had not cut his finger last week.
Miguel Cabrera, another option on first base, did not play. His workload, especially in early spring, is closely watched.
Five players from the minicamp portion of the spring practice have been activated for Sunday’s game: right-hand man Nolan Blackwood, Drew Carlton, Robbie Ross Jr. and Logan Shore, along with catcher Brady Policelli.
The Tigers used six pitchers: Alexander, Derek Holland, Alex Lange, Ian Krol, Ross Jr. and Carlton. NEW: After Alexander allowed the only two runs, the Lighters kept the Phillies on one hold and two ran the rest of the way.
Prospects play
The first time in the second innings, when Haase replaced Ramos as a crippling substitute. Two of the team’s prospects – fielder Riley Greene and second baseman Kody Clemens – took part in the later innings.
Greene threw on a 95.8 mph fast ball from Enyel De Los Santos in his first bat of the spring, and then picked up in sixth place in a fielder. Clemens set aside the glove JD Hammer’s glove in his only innings.
[ Riley Greene fishing for something big this spring: Big-league knowledge ]
Welcome back, fans
For the first time in 353 days – dating to March 12, 2020 – the Tigers welcomed fans to watch their team play a baseball game. Tickets went on sale on February 18, with a limited capacity of 2,000 fans per game, and sold out within three hours.
“It was definitely very nice, a nice change,” Stewart said. “It was reassuring to know that people are there and still coming to games. It was a very different atmosphere.”
Evan Petzold is a sports reporter at Detroit Free Press. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.