Kevin McGonigle Saves The Day Again As The Tigers Improve To 2-0 On The Season
I want to personally thank number seven, who is making my job a heck of a lot easier, to begin the 2026 season. Are you serious with this kid? This was a game that was shaping up to be one that we saw a lot of in the latter part of last season.
The Tigers pitched well, and Framber Valdez was excellent in his first start as a Detroit Tiger. Still, the offense was lethargic, spoiling multiple opportunities, and even after they tied the game with Riley Greene's dribbler, Spencer Torkelson followed it up with an awful at-bat. It seemed as though the Tigers were going to strand the bases loaded.
Kevin McGonigle had other plans. I said it in the video, and it’s something I think we’ll be talking about for a while, but it’s one of the great at-bats that we’ve seen here in a long time by anybody, let alone a rookie. I said it after Opening Day, but I’ll say it again here, you couldn’t have written a better script to start this season for the Tigers, especially Kevin McGonigle.
McGonigle delivered the heroic moment, but this Tiger pitching staff was up to the challenge tonight. The defense has still been a little sloppy, and I have concerns that may continue throughout the season. The Dillon Dingler error was an anomaly.
Ding was a Gold Glove catcher a year ago. Everyone makes mistakes, but when you have a ground ball pitch on the mound like Valdez, you need your defense to be solid behind you and I felt like there’s been a little bit of sloppiness to begin this campaign. But this team will win games with their pitching, and they’ve given up four runs in two games against this Padres lineup.