With thrilled parents in the stands, Malloy bashes HR for 1st MLB hit

ARLINGTON -- Justyn-Henry Malloy waited what seemed like an eternity for his first Major League call after 189 Triple-A games, all but eight of them in the Tigers organization. Then he had to plug away at his first Major League hit.

But for a 24-year-old, Malloy has a fairly mature focus on here and now.

• First career homers in 2024 >>

“I feel like I wouldn't get the opportunities up here if I wasn't focused on the day to day,” Malloy said Monday. “And I'll still be that same guy. …Just day to day, that's how I've been, that's how I've really approached things and that's probably how I'm always going to approach things.”

As he watched his sixth-inning drive off former Tigers turned Rangers starter Jose Ureña soar 413 feet to the left-field seats Wednesday night at Globe Life Field, he couldn’t complain about his timing. Nor could the Tigers, for that matter.

Not only was Malloy’s first big league hit a home run -- he’s the second Tiger in as many years to do that, joining Andre Lipcius -- it was also the Tigers’ only hit off Ureña, who had retired Detroit’s first 15 batters. Malloy not only broke up a perfect game, he broke up his own hitless start, and gave mom Jacqueline and dad Henry an amazing memory as they watched from the stands.

“Well, people talk about getting the monkey off your back,” Malloy said after the Tigers’ 9-1 loss, in which starter Kenta Maeda only made two pitches before departing with an injury. “It feels like getting an angry gorilla off your back. And for my parents to be able to be here and see it in person, I thought was pretty cool. To be able to give that moment to them is sick.”

According to Bally Sports Detroit, Malloy is the sixth Major Leaguer since 1920 to break up a no-hitter in the sixth inning or later with his first MLB hit coming on a home run, joining Baltimore’s Heston Kjerstad (9/15/2023), Texas’ Taylor Teagarden (7/20/2008), Houston’s Carlton Jimerson (9/4/2006), then-Brewer Gary Sheffield (9/9/1988) and Washington’s John Kennedy (9/5/1962).

On a day when the Tigers lost starter Kenta Maeda to injury after just two pitches and missed a chance at a series sweep, Malloy was a much-needed bright spot. He not only had both Detroit hits, adding a ground-ball single through the left side in the eighth, he provided one of the few smiles.

“It’s a big smile,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “Obviously we needed anything at that point. First hit would’ve been nice, and it turned out to be the homer.”

As Malloy soaked in the moment in the dugout after his homer, however, the smile turned into a look of awe.

“I don’t know if I was emotional or I was just blacked out,” Malloy said. “That was one of those moments where it was just like, ‘Did that just happen? Like, that was a real moment.’”

For nearly a season and a half at Triple-A Toledo, Malloy made his case with a mixture of power and patience, the kind of offensive profile that Scott Harris has emphasized since becoming president of baseball operations two years ago. Once the Tigers optioned Spencer Torkelson to Triple-A Toledo, they decided the time was right to give Malloy an extended look. He uncharacteristically charged the first Major League pitch he saw Monday, sending it to the warning track in right-center, but went 0-for-7 over his first two games.

“I can’t speak for every big league hitter,” he said, “but there’s always that feeling of, ‘OK, I’m here now, but can I hit here?’ And then two games go by for me and it’s like, ‘Jeez, can I get a hit here?’”

While Texas pulled away against a taxed Tigers bullpen Wednesday, Detroit hitters struggled to center up pitches from Ureña, who showed the form that drew Detroit to him three years ago. But if any Tiger could force Ureña over the plate and lift his sinker, it was Malloy, whose plate judgment earned him the nickname ABS (automated balls and strikes) in Toledo. After flying out to right in the third inning, Malloy worked a 3-1 count in the sixth before connecting with a sinker in the middle of the zone.

Malloy took off running on contact.

“I knew I hit it good. I didn’t know it was gone,” Malloy said. “I was willing it out of there. Moments after that, it’s just kind of like a blackout.”

Malloy was nearly to third base when he remembered to point to the bullpen in left-center. Tigers relievers had retrieved the ball, which will become a collector’s item for him along with a handful of infield dirt he’d grabbed on Monday. From here on out, it’s day to day.

“Now it’s on to the next series,” he said.