Tigers Stay Hot at Home, Beat Padres 6–4 Behind Torres and McKinstry

[Dylan Gardner]

Gleyber Torres and Zach McKinstry each collected three hits as the Detroit Tigers held off the San Diego Padres 6–4 on Monday night, picking up their fourth win in five games and continuing their dominance in series openers.

DETROIT — Gleyber Torres and Zach McKinstry each collected three hits as the Detroit Tigers held off the San Diego Padres 6–4 on Monday night, picking up their fourth win in five games and continuing their dominance in series openers.

Detroit has now won seven straight series openers since dropping Opening Day on the road against the Dodgers. With the victory, the Tigers improved to 9–2 at Comerica Park—their best home start since 1984.

Right-hander Brenan Hanifee (1–0) earned the win with two scoreless innings of relief, allowing just one hit and striking out two. Keider Montero, making his second start since being recalled from Triple-A Toledo, battled through 4 1/3 innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits and four walks.

Will Vest closed things out in the ninth with a perfect inning, striking out Fernando Tatis Jr. for his second save.

San Diego starter Randy Vásquez (1–2) struggled early, surrendering six runs (five earned) on five hits and three walks in just two innings—the shortest outing of his five starts this season.

Padres rookie Tirso Ornelas, making his first career start after debuting Saturday, gave San Diego a brief 1–0 lead with a run-scoring force-out in the first.

Detroit answered quickly in the bottom half when McKinstry tripled in a run and then scored on Colt Keith’s infield single that took a tricky hop past shortstop José Iglesias. Tatis tied the game in the second with an RBI groundout, but the Tigers regained the lead with two in the second and two more in the third.

Tomás Nido drove in a run with a single and later scored on Riley Greene’s two-out RBI knock. Torres, who raised his average to .304, delivered a two-run single in the third to make it 6–2.

Gavin Sheets trimmed the deficit with a solo homer in the fifth, but the Padres couldn’t rally further.

Key Moment: The Padres had a situation with a tying run batting twice in top 7th inning after Gavin Sheets' single with one out on the board.  Manny Machado hit into a fielder's choice with Sheets out at second base. Xander Bogaerts struck out to end their last pulse of momentum.

Key Stat: The Tigers are 9–2 at home to open the season—their best home start since their World Series championship year in 1984.

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