Peterson puts on show vs. his former team

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Walt Disney World is billed as the Happiest Place on Earth. Dustin Peterson enjoyed his return visit there Thursday.

“I had this game marked on my calendar,” Peterson said as the Tigers wrapped up a 7-6 win. “The guys had been kinda asking me, 'You ready to play the Braves?' And I'm like, 'I'm more than ready.' To do what I did today was a lot of fun.”

A year ago, Peterson was a ranked prospect in the Braves' system, laying the groundwork for his Major League debut last May. Six months ago, the Tigers claimed Peterson off waivers when the Braves tried to sneak him off the 40-man roster.

Peterson had been preparing for a September call-up, having finished strong down the stretch at Triple-A Gwinnett. Instead, he became the return move to create a roster spot for Preston Tucker.

“I've been waiting to play in this game,” Peterson said. "Things kinda ended a little different, or unexpectedly, for me last year with the Braves. I'm just so thankful to be picked up by the Tigers, given the opportunity and then getting to start the first game against the Braves. I had it marked, and when I saw the lineups and saw my name in there, it was just a burst of adrenaline and energy. I was fired up.”

On Thursday, Peterson reminded the Braves what they lost. In the first inning, he sent a Touki Toussaint pitch deep to left-center field for his first home run of the year.

“Touki, he's one of my good friends,” he said. “That was a good pitch to hit. I did everything right. That felt good. Oh man, did it feel good.”

He didn’t hit a second, but he made sure Pedro Florimon didn’t either, leaping at the left-field wall to bring back a fifth-inning drive.

“I heard JaCoby [Jones] in center field,” Peterson said. “I was running over and I was like, 'This ball might get out.' And I heard JaCoby just yell, 'Jump! Get up!' I took one more step and just jumped as high as I could, snagged it.

“Oh, that fired me up, too. That was awesome.”

It was a statement to the Braves, but it served as a nice impression for the Tigers, too. Peterson is 5-for-12 with five RBIs so far in Grapefruit League play.

“He’s game-on. He’s working hard,” Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said. “That’s what you have to do when you come into camp, show people what you can do.”

Impressive as it is, Peterson is unlikely to make the Opening Day roster barring injury. Mikie Mahtook is out of Minor League options, and Josh Harrison’s arrival makes Niko Goodrum another outfield option off the bench. But the Tigers felt strongly enough about Peterson’s potential that they kept him on the 40-man roster through the offseason, dropping homegrown prospect Mike Gerber instead when they needed to open a spot.

“It just feels good,” Peterson said of the camp. “It feels good to be given a chance, to be given an opportunity to get some starts, get a lot of ABs. And it feels good with the Tigers having my back. They're supporting it. I can't thank them enough. I'm just trying to have as much fun as I can and enjoy the spring.”

Moore work in second start

The crowd at Champion Stadium was quiet enough during at-bats that Matt Moore’s grunts on pitches could be heard all the way up in the press box behind home plate. They became noticeable as he labored through a 24-pitch second inning.

“Sometimes I do that on the changeup, probably trying to sell it more,” Moore said with a smile. “That was definitely unintentional, more on the fastballs today.”

Aside from a third-inning home run to Florimon, Moore handled his second outing of the spring well, striking out three batters with no walks over 2 1/3 innings. He retired the side in order on nine pitches in the opening inning, capped by a strikeout of Freddie Freeman then escaped trouble in the second by fanning Charlie Culberson.

“That was a good step forward with the conditioning,” Moore said. “I got 45 pitches in, threw everything. So, it was a good day.”

Up next

The Tigers begin a stretch of four games in Lakeland in five days when they welcome the Mets to Joker Marchant Stadium for a 1:05 p.m. ET game on Friday. Tyson Ross will make his second start of the spring opposite reigning NL Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom.