Parker Meadows got a broken-bat single in the 10th inning, giving Detroit the lead just after Trey Sweeney advanced to third base due to a balk. The Tigers went on to defeat the Kansas City Royals 3-1 on Tuesday night.
Tyler Holton (7-1) retired all six Royals he faced, striking out two batters in the ninth to send the game into extra innings. Jason Foley handled the Royals in the 10th, earning his save for the second night in a row and the 25th time this season.
“Pitching and defense go together, and we hung in there in some really difficult situations,” said Tigers manager A.J. Hinch. His team has now won 24 of its last 34 games, the best stretch in over a decade.
“It was kind of all hands on deck,” Hinch added, “and they responded.”
Riley Greene contributed an RBI single off Lucas Erceg (2-6) later in the 10th for the Tigers, keeping them 1 1/2 games behind the Twins for the final AL wild-card spot. Minnesota won against the Guardians earlier on Tuesday.
The Royals remain 2 1/2 games behind Baltimore for the first wild-card spot and are 1 1/2 games ahead of Minnesota.
“There were some good pitchers on the other side trying to keep us from scoring,” said Royals manager Matt Quatraro. “That was a classic pitching duel the whole night.”
Cole Ragans allowed one run on four hits and four walks while striking out six batters over seven innings for Kansas City. Casey Mize gave up one run on six hits and four walks while pitching into the fifth for Detroit.
“We found a way,” Mize said. “That’s obviously the most important thing right now.”
Ragans had control issues early, hitting Andy Ibáñez to start the game. Matt Vierling followed with an RBI double, and Ragans walked two batters in the fourth inning. However, he managed to keep the Tigers from taking advantage of his mistakes with a mix of ground balls and strikeouts.
