Tigers hope Torkelson's first HR brings power surge

DETROIT -- The thrill of Sunday’s pitching duel between Jack Flaherty and former Tigers ace Justin Verlander had subsided amidst a late-inning barrage of Astros runs when Spencer Torkelson stepped to the plate with two outs in the ninth. So the ensuing swing echoed through a relatively quiet Comerica Park before Torkelson’s first home run of the season landed in the left-field seats.

The Tigers hope it’s the start of a noisy stretch from Torkelson to help ignite Detroit’s offense. As it was, it was arguably the bright spot of Detroit’s 9-3 loss to Houston in the rubber match of a three-game series.

“To break the seal definitely felt good,” said Torkelson, his emotions as mixed as a much-needed home run in a loss would suggest.

As happy as Tigers fans can understandably be for Verlander providing a throwback to his younger days with seven scoreless innings and eight strikeouts, they need Torkelson to heat up. He has shown hints in recent days, going 7-for-21 with four doubles over a six-game hitting streak entering Sunday, but a lot of it had come without especially hard contact. He entered Sunday with one ball hit at 105 mph or harder in May, and that was a groundout to short off Framber Valdez on Friday. Still, Torkelson leads the American League with 13 doubles, comprising about 40 percent of his hits.

Sunday’s drive off a Seth Martinez sweeper had an exit velocity of exactly 109 mph, his hardest-hit ball of the season. It traveled a projected 405 feet, according to Statcast.

Nobody is calling it a breakthrough, but it’s at least a reward for progress.

“It was good,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “Obviously we’re trying to salvage anything. We’ve got a series at home [Monday against the Marlins] and we want our guys to feel good going into that series. Hopefully the ninth inning is a glimmer of hope that things are turning.”

The Tigers have exercised patience with Torkelson as he tries to get his timing at the plate. Unlike others who got off to a slow start, Torkelson has a track record. He batted .198 with two home runs through his first 27 games last season, then homered 19 times over his final 68 games to become Detroit’s first 30-homer slugger since 2016. He’s a streaky hitter, but so was Justin Upton, who hit 31 homers in that 2016 campaign -- 18 of them over his final 37 games -- and powered Detroit into a playoff race that went into the season’s final weekend.

“We really want Tork to figure it out here,” Hinch said last week. “He’ll show flashes of it. He’s got a little longer track record and he’s going to get the opportunity to work himself through it.”

The metrics show signs of improvement leading into Sunday’s homer. While Torkelson’s average and whiff rate on fastballs have remained relatively steady, he has raised his average exit velocity off them from 91.1 mph in March/April to 94.4 mph in May. He entered Sunday batting .364 (4-for-11) off breaking balls in May, including two doubles, while lowering his whiff rate against breaking stuff from 36 to 25 percent.

“It's just a matter of staying with your approach, trusting your swing, trusting what you do and knowing that it will come,” Torkelson said. “Don't try to force it.”

While Torkelson broke through on the homer board Sunday, Colt Keith continues to search for his first Major League home run. He came within feet of claiming it off Verlander, sending a 383-foot drive toward the cutout in right-center field. It would’ve been gone in 15 other Major League parks, according to Statcast, and Verlander’s lean as he watched the ball carry suggested he thought it might be going as well. But Kyle Tucker caught it a couple steps in front of the wall.

Like Torkelson, Keith has shown signs of busting out from a slow start, but without a homer.

“I don't know what I've gotta do,” Keith said. “I don't want to change because I'm feeling good, but I have to find a way to pull the ball.”

Admittedly, he was hopeful he had found the way Sunday.

“That's over the road in Erie,” Keith joked, noting the residential street beyond right field at UPMC Park, where the Tigers’ Double-A affiliate plays.

Still, Keith took some salvation in breaking up Verlander’s perfect game. His slow roller to the left side sent him busting down the first-base line at 29.2 feet per second, leaving Alex Bregman without a play.