Watch: Nick Castellanos’ Clutch Hit Propels Detroit Tigers to Victory
By Matt Snyder
Nick Castellanos’ bases-clearing triple in the eighth inning lifted the Detroit Tigers to a 5-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Milwaukee Brewers entered the three-game series with the Detroit Tigers owning the worst record in baseball. Unfortunately for the Tigers, they didn’t play like it in the first two games.
After battling out a 3-2 victory on Monday night, the Brewers returned on Tuesday and pummeled Detroit pitching to the tune of eight runs. The Tigers pushed across just one run.
That set the stage for Wednesday’s battle. Milwaukee was looking for a sweep over one of the best teams in the American League, and Detroit was looking to salvage even a single win against a National League cellar dweller.
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The status remained quo for the Detroit Tigers until the eighth inning. They had managed just two runs over the first seven frames — Yoenis Cespedes doubled, stole third base, and then trotted home on a throwing error in the second inning and J.D. Martinez scored on a Nick Castellanos RBI groundout in the fourth inning — and found themselves even on the scoreboard with the Brewers heading into the bottom of the eighth.
Jonathan Broxton entered the game in relief for the Brewers and quickly retired the first two Tigers batters of the inning — Ian Kinsler on a popup and Miguel Cabrera on a groundout. But the Tigers would rally.
J.D. Martinez lined a single up the middle, Cespedes flipped a soft liner into short right field, and Tyler Collins drew a five pitch walk after watching five pitches miss the strike zone (one of them was unfairly called a strike).
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That brought Castellanos to the plate with a chance to break the game open late. A hit would surely score two runs.
Broxton insisted on pumping in fastballs (he threw one slider that missed well off the plate) against the Tigers’ third baseman. Castellanos avoided expanding the zone, fouled off a few close ones, and finally got one he could do damage with. The seventh pitch of the plate appearance was a 97 mph fastball that ended up right down the middle.
Castellanos drove the pitch down the right field line and a Gerardo Parra misplay allowed it to travel all the way to the wall. All three base runners came around to score. Castellanos ended up on third base with his team ahead 5-2.
Here’s a video of the play:
Joakim Soria would enter for the Detroit Tigers in the top of the ninth and nail down the save. A three-game losing streak was snapped and a win was salvaged.
It was still not a good series, but the Tigers can look on this game with pride and hopefully turn the page.
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