Candelario's five hits help Tigers to win

TORONTO -- Jeimer Candelario had his first career five-hit game Sunday, and the Tigers' third baseman tried to add an assist to it.

Candelario was yelling at his infield partner Jordy Mercer to throw home, as the shortstop crawled along the Rogers Centre turf to retrieve a Freddy Galvis screamer that hopped out of his glove. Mercer could only hear the crowd that was roaring, which was his hint that Richard Urena was rounding third to try to end the extra-inning duel.

“You could hear the crowd, so you knew he didn't stop, basically,” Mercer said after the 11-inning, 4-3 win over the Blue Jays. “I knew that I had one chance -- pick it up and throw it. And luck is a good thing.”

From his knees, Mercer fired a one-hopper home to catcher Grayson Greiner. He knew the throw was on target. It was a question of the bounce off the artificial surface.

“The ball was in midair, and I thought it was going to be an in-between hop,” Greiner said. “I kind of hesitated. I didn't know whether to go get it or wait back on it. He couldn't get a whole lot on it, throwing from that position, so it ended up being a perfect hop. That was probably the play [of] the game. That was incredible.”

The play kept the game alive for an 11th inning, where Candelario’s fifth hit of the day continued a Tigers rally to set up a Nicholas Castellanos’ go-ahead single. As the Tigers celebrated on their way out of Toronto, they had plenty of emotion for a victory at the end of March.

The Tigers scored six runs in the season-opening series, tied for their third-lowest total through four games in franchise history, and their lowest since 2003. They scored just three runs outside of extra innings as they struggled to solve the Jays' pitching staff. Detroit went scoreless for 24 innings from Christin Stewart’s go-ahead homer on Opening Day to Mercer’s bases-loaded walk in the seventh inning Sunday.

Through all that, they salvaged a series split on the road.

“That's a huge win,” Mercer said. “I'm not talking about record-wise. I'm talking momentum. I'm talking coming together as a team; not giving up. That's what good teams are made of. When you have a 3-0 lead, they come back and tie it, you want to hang your head. You come back, and then we keep fighting and keep fighting. We scratch one run, and we make some plays to keep us in the game. Our pitchers did well. It was a whole-team win, and that's huge.”

The enthusiasm from Candelario was contagious as he rounded first base on his two-run single following Mercer’s walk. The feeling as his blooper fell into right field to extend the 11th inning was relief; he fouled off five consecutive pitches before connecting on a high fastball enough to plop it into right field.

Candelario went 1-for-12 through the first three games, batting cleanup behind Castellanos and Miguel Cabrera. He moved back into the leadoff spot Sunday because Josh Harrison had the day off.

“We needed him to swing in the strike zone,” Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said. “And maybe that thought process leading off today will help him as we go along here. But he had a great day, a super day. Five hits in a ballgame is pretty special.”

Candelario said he didn’t change his approach. He still chased some pitches out of the zone, including in that last at-bat. But he connected with them, and didn’t chase quite as far out of the zone.

“They pitch me the same way,” Candelario said. “I just swing at good pitches to hit. That's what it's all about. When you get a good pitch to hit and you swing, you're going to be all right. But when you swing at bad pitches, you're not. So you just have to concentrate, see the ball like I always do and have quality at-bats.”

Candelario singled to lead off the game before Toronto starter Trent Thornton retired 15 of Detroit’s next 16 batters, finishing his Major League debut with five scoreless innings and eight strikeouts. After a sixth-inning single, Candelario came back up in the seventh after Mercer’s two-out walk produced the Tigers’ first run since Opening Day.

Candelario singled in two more with a liner to left, building a 3-0 lead for starter Matt Moore. Though Moore delivered seven scoreless innings on two hits in his Tigers debut, thanks in part to two highlight-reel stops from Candelario at third base, Rowdy Tellez produced a three-run homer off of All-Star setup man Joe Jimenez that sent the game into extras.

“Going 2-2 here, we didn't hit a lot,” Gardenhire said. “This time we finally came through, scored some runs. A good ballgame.”