00:01Spencer Torkelson's journey with the Tigers has been a study in extremes,
00:05stretches of quiet at the plate followed by bursts of game-changing power.
00:09The past few days at Comerica Park gave Detroit fans the best kind of reminder of what that power
00:14looks like when everything clicks. And the Tigers have watched Spencer Torkelson follow a 31-homer
00:20season with a slow start at the plate in two of the past three seasons. They've also enjoyed the
00:25flip side. He brings a different element. Manager A.J. Hinch said, I mean, we can slug. Obviously,
00:32we can be streaky too. And slug does do that. As Torkelson turned on Abner Uribe's 3-1 fastball
00:39at 99.2 Matidrump and sent it deep to left at a stat-cast projected 109.8 MPH for a
00:47walk-off homer
00:48on Thursday afternoon, he not only had his second home run in less than 24 hours, but he powered the
00:53Tigers to a 5-4 win and a series victory over a Brewers team that had pestered them for three
00:59games with speed, contact, and persistence at Comerica Park. When Torkelson posted his first
01:0631-homer season in 2023, he didn't hit his first home run the following season until the Tigers' 40th
01:12game and his 147th at-bat of 24. But he also homered the following day, and a week after that,
01:19his overall hitting struggles that summer landed him at AAA Toledo. But he returned that August to
01:26bat .309 with four homers in his first 15 games back with Detroit. The last two games marked
01:33Torkelson's 13th set of consecutive contests with homers in his career, including Nasen 30 and 31 of
01:402025 last September 19-20. He homered three times in five games last September after previously going
01:4618 games and 64 at-bats without homers. It feels really good when you connect, Hinch said. It
01:54obviously can be challenging when the other side takes away from it, but it brings a whole new element,
01:59and this is a guy who has moved down in the order a little bit with catcher Dylan Dingler,
02:04with Kevin McGonigal coming on this team. It just lengthens our lineup and provides a huge threat
02:10of homers at the bottom. For Torkelson, it's more timing than streakiness, being ready for a fastball
02:16that he can hit. He had been pounding fastballs for hard contact for much of this opening month
02:21without much to show for it, until he posted his two hardest hits of the season on Wednesday.
02:26But Uribe hadn't given up a home run since the Nationals' Brady house got him on July 12,
02:312025. Uribe looked intent on not giving Torkelson a chance to sit on a fastball.
02:37After spotting a 100 mph sinker at the top of the zone for a called first strike,
02:42he threw three consecutive sliders, none particularly close.
02:46Just looking for something out over the plate that I can handle, Torkelson said.
02:50Got a really good one to hit.
02:54Andra Tfour, on the first pitch, just wasn't on time.
02:59Then he was kind of spraying his slider and in the 3-1 count, don't really want to walk me,
03:04but I'm pretty much always on the fastball right there. It marked the second hardest pitch
03:09Torkelson has hit out in his career, behind only the 99.
03:138-Mempoi teeter he took deep off Emmanuel Claes on SEP 29, 2023.
03:19It's also the 15th time Torkelson has homered off a fastball at 95-Mempois or harder,
03:24including his drive-off Chad Patrick on Wednesday that went to nearly the same spot as Thursday's
03:29heroics. Torkelson's Bison 5'37 slugging percentage against pitch's 95-Mempois or H-Plus rank 16th
03:36among 186 hitters with at least 100 plate appearances ending on those pitches since the
03:41beginning of 2025. His latest feats only add to that.
03:44I think I'm just on time. Just being on time. And being ready.
03:49Torkelson said, Torkelson's latest homer came an inning after Jamai Jones had tied the game with
03:54a pinch-hit home runoff lefty reliever Angel Zerpa. I'm proud of him, because mentally for him,
04:00he's getting a lot of questions. He's getting a lot of doubt, Hinch said of Torkelson,
04:05but never internal, never by us, never by his teammates, and certainly not by him.
04:10So Tigers fans, with the way Torkelson is starting to barrel up premium velocity again and change games
04:16late. Do you think this is the beginning of a sustained power run that can carry this lineup
04:20into the summer?
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