Tigers’ reliever Tyler Alexander ties AL record and strikes out 9 straight batters
By John Buhler
Tyler Alexander was unhittable vs. the Cincinnati Reds in relief on Sunday.
Detroit Tigers relief pitcher Tyler Alexander had a record-tying day on the mound Sunday.
The Tigers’ home series against the Cincinnati Reds had to deal with inclement weather throughout the weekend. Saturday night’s game was postponed, which led to a double-header on Sunday. Though it took a while for Game 1’s action to get underway in Comerica Park, Alexander stole the show in early relief duty against the Reds.
Alexander came into the game in the top of the third inning down 2-0. Starting pitcher Rony Garcia only gave the Tigers two inning’s worth of work. To keep the game from getting out of hand, Alexander knew he had to get to work. Boy, did he ever in his 3.2 innings of relief for the Tigers.
Tyler Alexander faced nine batters.
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) August 2, 2020
He struck out ALL NINE. #DetroitRoots pic.twitter.com/vUyk9SziMl
Nobody was hitting the ball off Tyler Alexander on Sunday afternoon.
Alexander struck out the first nine Reds hitters he face. He walked the 10th batter he came across and then struck out a 10th Reds hitter before his day was done. At 5-3 through their first eight games of the season, the lowly Tigers may be better than we initially thought. People thought this would be the worst team in the American League, but in a 60-game season, anything can happen.
In the 60-game, coronavirus-shortened 2020 MLB season, eight teams from both leagues qualify for the postseason. All six division winners and runner-ups get in, as well as the two best remaining teams in both leagues based on winning percentage. Could the Tigers be one of those lucky eight teams getting in in the American League? It’s super early, but let’s just wait and see.
Next. Yoenis Cespedes decided to opt out of 2020 MLB season. dark
For now, the Tigers are surprisingly fun and have massively overachieved in the first week-plus of action. Given how low expectations were for this team, they’re clearly building up our hopes to crush our dreams down the line, right? Then again, if the bullpen gets more great performances out of it like Alexander gave them Sunday, maybe this team is better than we thought?
Alexander pitched to no contact on Sunday and he blew us all away in the process.