With best record in baseball, your Detroit Tigers are bound for Toronto after historic homestand

TORONTO – The Detroit Tigers are off to a historic start, including back-to-back walk-off performances to take the three-game series vs. the Boston Red Sox.

Manager A.J. Hinch is pulling all the right strings as he pinch-hit Justyn-Henry Malloy in the bottom of the ninth inning with Andy Ibáñez drawing a pinch-hit walk to start the inning vs. relief pitcher Aroldis Chapman inside Comerica Park.

Facing one ball and two strikes against utility player Zach McKinstry, Ibáñez stole second base.

However, catcher Connor Wong made an errant throw that went over shortstop Trevor Story’s head and landed in centerfield as Ibáñez advanced to third base.

With no outs and a man on third in a 5-5 game, McKinstry struck out, setting up Tuesday (May 13) night‘s extra innings hero in Javier Báez for back-to-back miracles, but he popped out to shallow right field for the second out of the inning.

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Recently called up, Akil Baddoo came up to bat, going 0-3 and striking out once, leading to Malloy’s pinch-hit opportunity.

Prior to his at bat, Malloy was averaging .208 with a .671 on-base plus slugging percentage while driving in 13 RBI and one home run in 34 games with the Tigers during the 2025 season.

With a 2-0 count, Malloy hit a single over Red Sox second baseman Kristian Campbell’s leaping glove to centerfield for the Tigers’ second walk-off in consecutive games as Ibáñez scored from third to take a 6-5 victory.

Hinch, who celebrated his 51st birthday on Wednesday, May 15, 2025, got the best birthday gift a clubhouse manager could receive, which was another victory to extend their home winning record to 17-5 while improving to Major League Baseball’s leading record of 29-15 on the season.

The next man up mentality he’s displayed with his team was on full blast as Ibáñez and Malloy came off the bench cold in the bottom of the ninth inning to make clutch plays for the Tigers.

The Tigers’ 17-5 home record was the best since the 1984 World Series team.

Although it‘s early in the season, they are leading the division and have the best record in baseball as of May 15 and that was due to players like Malloy staying ready.

“It‘s really just about the preparation and just staying locked in through nine innings,” said Malloy. “Knowing that a big at bat is going to come, and we really got some good table setters. I mean, Andy being able to get on, that‘s huge. And we got guys like him, and we got 12 other hitters that are really good. I just happened to be in a really good spot and put a good swing on the ball.”

Malloy expressed the will of himself and his teammates as they want to score runs for the Tigers, while they each have the will to win.

“It‘s so cool,” Malloy said. “I mean, we use all 27 outs and we do our absolute best, and like I said before, we got some really good hitters and our pitchers consistently do their jobs. We try to just do the same and to be on a team that has so much buy-in. That has so much want to, that‘s just coming to the ballpark every day to just do whatever we need to do to win, it‘s definitely special.”

The Tigers are using Wednesday to rest and recover before taking their talents to Canada to face the Toronto Blue Jays inside Rogers Centre in a tough battle.

Let‘s see if they can keep the good times rolling as World Series championship pitcher Jack Flaherty will take the mound against right-handed pitcher Bowden Francis.

First pitch is scheduled for 7:07 p.m. on Friday, May 16, 2025.

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