SAN DIEGO (AP) — Parker Meadows hit a grand slam on a full count with two outs in the ninth inning to give the Detroit Tigers a 4-3 victory over the San Diego Padres on Thursday night.
Meadows' opposite-field homer went into the second row in left field off a 100.7 mph four-seam fastball from Padres closer Robert Suarez (8-3). It was the second-fastest pitch a Tigers player has homered off of in the pitch-tracking era that started in 2008, behind only Jeimer Candelario's homer off of 102.1 mph pitch on Sept. 7, 2018.
“I faced him (Suarez) last night and I knew he had a good heater. I took a couple of big swings in the at-bat. I tried to settle it down and not do too much and get on top of the heater,” Meadows said. “I was sprinting out of the box. I didn't really know if it had a chance. I saw it go over (the fence) and I was hyped.”
Tigers reliever Ricky Vanasco (1-0) won his first game of the season with a scoreless eighth. Tyler Holton earned his seventh save with a scoreless ninth.
“There is a lot of fight in this group. There is a lot of desire to be good and finish these games,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “Our guys learned that you are never out of it if you just keep stacking good at-bats together.”
San Diego (80-62) had its three-game winning streak stopped and remained three games ahead of Arizona for the top NL wild card. Detroit (71-70) is five games behind Kansas City for the last AL wild card, tied with Seattle.
“It is momentum going into the next series,” Meadows said. “Never count us out. You have seen it all year and we were able to do it again tonight, so it was pretty fun.”
Padres starter Martin Pérez kept the Tigers off balance by mixing his assortment of pitches effectively. He went 6 1/3 innings and gave up no runs and three hits while striking out five.
“I was good with everything — my timing, with my delivery, my rhythm was there,” Pérez said. “We (win) the series, and that is a good thing.”
Jurickson Profar hit his 22nd home run, a solo shot, in the first inning and Xander Bogaerts hit a two-run homer in the second inning to give San Diego a 3-0 lead.
Tigers starter Casey Mize lasted 5 1/3 innings and gave up three runs on six hits.
“Make a mistake to Profar — it is supposed to be down and away and it ends up up and in and he hits it for a homer. Same to Bogaerts,” Mize said. “At that point I am kind of just resetting and telling myself hold it here. Hold it here for as long as you can.”
Suarez failed to earn his 32nd save by giving up a single and two walks prior to Meadows' grand slam.
“I felt it was a good pitch. It was exactly where I wanted it and he put a good swing to it,” Suarez said through an interpreter. “I threw a lot of pitches and that is something that affected me towards the end.”
Fernando Tatis Jr., who hit an RBI single with two outs in the 10th inning to give the Padres a 6-5 victory over the Tigers on Wednesday night in his second game back from the IL, went 0 for 4 on Thursday night.
