Spring Training Tuneup In the Desert: Meadows and Torres Provide Spark in 6-5 loss.
Torres and Meadows ignited Detroit's offense, delivering clutch hits and keeping the Tigers in a hard-fought spring contest that ultimately slipped away.
The Detroit Tigers and Colorado Rockies put on quite a show at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick on Monday afternoon, with the Rockies holding on for a 6-5 victory after nine innings of traded blows and lead changes throughout. Gleyber Torres was the offensive catalyst for Detroit, going 2-for-3 with 3 RBI in another strong spring outing. The veteran second baseman delivered a two-run single in the third that scored both Parker Meadows and Javier Bรกez to give the Tigers their first lead of the game, then added a ground-rule double down the right-field line in the fifth to score Meadows again and knot the game at four.
Torres has looked comfortable at the plate this spring and appears to be in a good rhythm heading into the regular season. Parker Meadows complemented Torres nicely, going 2-for-3 with a stolen base and an RBI ground-rule double of his own in the fifth. His stolen base in the third helped set up the Torres single, and his double in the fifth kept Detroit in the game after Colorado had taken the lead.
Meadows also showed his range in center field throughout the afternoon. The Rockies kept answering, though. TJ Rumfield hit a solo home run in the fourth, and Kyle Karros added a two-run triple later in the same frame to push the advantage to 4-2.
Colorado added another run in the sixth on an RBI single by Brenton Doyle and tacked on more in the seventh on a Hunter Goodman RBI single, giving the Rockies a 6-4 cushion heading into the final innings. On the mound, Jack Flaherty started for Detroit and worked into the fifth inning, giving up four runs on the Troy Johnston two-run home run in the third and the Rumfield and Karros extra-base hits in the fourth. Kyle Finnegan came on in the fifth and threw a clean frame, retiring the side in order with three strikeouts.