DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Tigers retired Jim Leyland’s No. 10, placing the Hall of Fame manager’s name and number in white on a brick wall adjacent to Sparky Anderson, the winner of the World Series.

Leyland remarked, “It’s hard to believe when I look out on that wall and see my name with the Tiger greats,” on Saturday night before Detroit’s game against the Kansas City Royals.

Tigers retire Hall of Famer Jim Leyland's No. 10 next to World Series winner Sparky Anderson on wall

Detroit wins 6-5 after 11 innings as a response to the bullpen’s abuse.

This was supposed to be a recap of the game, a celebration. In tonight’s game, the Royals employed all four of their trade deadline additions. The first three were very good. The last one wasn’t, and the Royals’ long-standing bullpen issues subsequently surfaced once more.

First, let’s get the unpleasant stuff out of the way. If all you want to remember is what went well, just scroll down to the heading. Hunter In the ninth inning, Harvey was put in charge of finishing the game. Before tonight, Harvey had made four appearances for the Royals.

Even if it wasn’t his best debut against the White Sox, the Royals prevailed. In his second appearance against Arizona, he struggled with control but managed to work a scoreless inning. He walked two against the Cubs because he was having back spasms and was taken out. However, he dominated his most recent game against the White Sox. He made them look silly, struck out two, and the only reason he allowed a run to score was due to two very badly hit balls that fell to the ground.

I think this was his weakest outing to yet.

Harvey was unable to get any traction with his splitter. He hit a single to Bligh Madris, halving the two-run advantage he had been given right away. A double, a weak grounder, another double with an RBI connected, a deep flyball, and a groundout to first eventually scored to get him out of the inning. Despite not earning any strikeouts, Harvey gave up three extra-base singles, which allowed the Tigers to tie the game. Harvey was brought in for his strikeout ability.

Detroit repays bullpen shellacking, win 6-5 in 11 innings - Royals Review

In the top of the tenth, ghost runner Kyle Isbel was advanced to third base on a ground out by Freddy Fermin, who was leading off for the first time in his career. Bobby Witt Jr. lined to center, and Parker Meadows had to make a diving catch for it to be considered a sacrifice fly rather than an RBI single or more.

The Royals asked Kris Bubic to record his first career save in the bottom of the tenth. After recording a groundout, he struck out Matt Vierling to bring the Royals to within one run of victory. Sadly, Justyn-Henry Malloy managed to drive a pitch into the right corner to tie it again, but Ryan Vilade grounded out to close the inning after Bubic purposefully walked pinch hitter Gio Urshela.

Dairon Blanco was assigned to run as the ghost runner for Vinnie Pasquantino at the top of the eleventh. After reviewing a close play with a great slide, Blanco swiped third base after Salvador Perez had struck out. Hunter Renfroe drove him in right away with a line drive single to left; the man has been unbelievably hot over the past two months.

Thus, with no other choices left in the bullpen, Matt Quatraro looked to James McArthur to finish it. Instead, in an attempt to exact revenge, McArthur handed up a lead-off triple to Meadows—clearly the game’s most important player. He deliberately walked Javier Báez before getting Witt to play up the middle on a groundball from Jake Rogers. By glancing Meadows back to third and then throwing behind him to Maikel Garcia to establish a double play, Witt made an extremely astute play. Regretfully, the cunning was for naught, as Wenceel Pérez scored a goal that went barely over Renfroe’s head to end the game.

Now, let us discuss the positive aspects of tonight’s events.

In the sixth inning, Vinnie Pasquantino opened the score with a clear-cut bomb to right field. His RBI streak now stands at five, and his hitting streak is up to seven games. Just seconds after broadcaster Rex Hudler made the observation that hanging splitters being hit far, Paul DeJong demonstrated why the Royals went out of their way to obtain him by hitting a two-run blast off of Kenta Maeda. Lucas Erceg dominated the Tigers batters with a stunning eighth inning of pitching.

Michael Lorenzen, nevertheless, was possibly the night’s high point. During his Kansas City Royals debut, Lorenzen was incredibly captivating. It appeared like he was genuinely in trouble just in the sixth and fourth innings. Bobby committed a rare error in the fourth, allowing Lorenzen to walk all the bases before making out without giving up any runs. Before being replaced by Sam Long in the sixth, he gave up an automatic double and an RBI single with two outs to tie the game. Long, on the other hand, got out of that jam and proceeded to pitch a spotless seventh inning, striking out one.

Michael Lorenzen, K'ing the Side in the 2nd. pic.twitter.com/b14WvfsBLd

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 3, 2024

The game’s narrative ought to have centered on Lorenzen. All night, his changeup was utterly disgusting. He got nine whiffs, eleven swings, and twenty of them. Using his second-most utilized pitch of the evening, that represents a 45% whiff rate. Ultimately, he threw 5.2 innings, gave up five hits and two walks, struck out five, and gave up one run. The bullpen collapse in the ninth and extra innings will eclipse his fantastic debut, but it shouldn’t.

However, I would wager on Long or Erceg to pitch the ninth with a narrow Royals lead if you are asking who is likely to do so. McArthur made two consecutive appearances in the pen. Bubic is unlikely to pitch in back-to-back games as he is still getting acclimated to being a reliever. Hunter Harvey hasn’t done anything to merit the right to try to close right away following tonight’s disaster, but he should still be pitching in heavy leverage. Erceg has also started back-to-back games as a pitcher, but on Friday night he only faced one batter. Long looked fantastic tonight despite not pitching on Friday. In addition, I have maintained that he should be a high-leverage reliever for the Royals and not be used as a fireman.

There is no perfect road trip for the Royals. However, they still have a chance to win this series and go on a 6-1 road trip, which would be fantastic. Tomorrow is Michael Wacha’s start for the Royals. Detroit has yet to name a starting lineup. The game tomorrow is scheduled for 12:40 KC time.

As I write this, both Boston and Cleveland are down badly in the ninth inning. The Royals will revert to the third Wild Card place as a result of Minnesota’s victory, but they won’t lose ground to anybody else. Although this is a difficult loss, things may be far worse.