00:00On Friday, the Tigers returned to Comerica Park, and for the first few innings, they
00:05looked just as unlucky as they had during their three-game stretch in Arizona, but
00:09then, in a single inning, Frambois Valdez and Dylan Dingler completely changed the
00:14momentum, the final score was a 4-0 win over the Cardinals, though don't let that
00:19number fool you, it wasn't as easy as it sounds, what we saw was pure Detroit
00:23baseball, played on an early April afternoon that didn't feel like Detroit at
00:27all. That victory snapped a four-game losing streak, much like the midday sun
00:36broke through the morning rain showers. Dingler himself said the team played
00:40through a lot of big situations, and the game felt close all the way through. He
00:45admitted the situational hitting could have been better, especially from him, but
00:49overall, he believed, that performance was exactly who the Tigers are as a team.
00:53That's also who Dingler is, a catcher who can make an impact on both offense and
00:58defense. The Tigers first saw that potential back when he was at Ohio State, and
01:03they've been patient with him ever since drafting him in 2020. Not only is he a
01:08trusted game-caller for the pitching staff, but he's also becoming a real threat at
01:13the plate. So far this season, the Tigers have hit two home runs, and Dingler has hit
01:18both of them. Manager A.J. Hinch pointed out, that it's about the quality of Dingler's at
01:23bats. He swings at the right pitches, hits the ball hard, and is growing more confident
01:28against different pitching styles, whether lefties, four-seamers, or spin pitchers. Hinch
01:34believes, Dingler is an overall really good hitter. And as his confidence grows, and he
01:39moves up in the order, you can see him impacting the game. After batting seventh in the first three
01:44games, Dingler has batted fifth in the last two, but before he could make a difference
01:48at the plate, he and Valdez had to handle business in the field. In the third inning,
01:54Valdez left runners stranded on the corners. Then in the fourth, the Cardinals loaded the
01:59bases. A ground ball from Yohel Pozo to first base looked like the third out, but Spencer
02:04Torkelson's toss bounced off Valdez's glove and hit his fingers, causing an injury scare,
02:09Valdez said, through translator Carlos Guillen, that it was light contact and not that bad.
02:14After a couple of warm-up pitches, he stayed in the game. Five pitches later,
02:18Thomas Segazi drew a walk, and the Tigers made another mound visit, this time with Dingler and
02:22pitching coach Chris Fetter checking on Valdez. Dingler explained that the play at first might
02:28have made Valdez's finger a little numb, and the mound visit was meant to slow down the momentum,
02:33and then go right after the hitters. Valdez responded by firing a 94 MPH first pitch sinker
02:39that Jose Fermin fouled off. Then he flipped a curveball onto the outside corner,
02:43one of four called strikes he got with that big breaking pitch. Dingler mentioned the saying,
02:48pull the string, usually for change-ups. But Valdez's curveball is that kind of pitch.
02:53He called Valdez a ton of fun to catch, because all his pitches moved so much,
02:58making the catcher's job easy. On an 0-2 count, they went back to the curveball out of the zone,
03:03and got an inning-ending flyout to left field. Just like Wednesday in Arizona behind Tarek Skubal,
03:10the Tigers still needed to give Valdez some run support. They had come close,
03:15but couldn't break through. Kevin McGonagall flew out 403 feet to deep left center in his first
03:21Comerica Park at-bat. Kerry Carpenter singled off the right field fence. Javier Baez was ready to
03:27score Detroit's first run since Tuesday on Gleyber Torres' two-out single, but Cardinals
03:32right fielder Jordan Walker threw him out at home. On the fly, at 106 MPH, according to StatCast,
03:38Hinch said, the team was putting together good at-bats without much to show for it,
03:42and they needed a breakthrough moment. That moment came from Dingler, who crushed a sweeper
03:47from Cardinals starter Michael McGreevey into the left center stands. The StatCast projected
03:524'33 foot drive was the longest home run of Dingler's MLB career, easily topping his 4'10 foot
03:59homer at Dodger Stadium last season. That blast scored Riley Green, who had hit a one-out double
04:05just a couple of pitches earlier. Dingler simply said he got a good pitch to hit and finally drove
04:11a slider, which felt pretty nice. So, Tigers fans, after seeing Dingler's power and Valdez's
04:16resilience, do you think this team has finally found the spark to turn their season around?
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