Tigers 11, Rockies 7: Lee's Double and Triple in a Seven-Run Eighth

Twelve stranded, then seven in the eighth

September 12, 2026 - Detroit - Hao-Yu Lee had already doubled once when the eighth inning started 7-4 Colorado. He doubled again. He tripled later in the same inning. The Detroit Tigers scored seven times, walked the go-ahead run in, and beat the Colorado Rockies 11-7. The Associated Press recap said Detroit had stranded 12 runners through seven innings. The 13th inning of patience was the eighth.

Partly cloudy, 78 degrees, wind 6 mph in from right. First pitch 1:10 p.m. Attendance 32,019. The game lasted 3 hours, 20 minutes. That is a long Saturday when the first seven innings keep loading the bases and the eighth finally cashes them.

The Tigers are 69-79 and have won three straight. The Rockies are 55-93 and have lost nine straight on the road, the AP recap said. Colorado has lost six in a row overall.

Goodman in the third, Tovar in the eighth, and still not enough

Tanner Gordon lasted four innings, 10 hits, four runs, one walk, five strikeouts, 87 pitches. He did not get a decision. He also did not get a clean third.

Jake McCarthy and Connor Norby reached. Hunter Goodman then hit a three-run homer to left, his 38th. 3-0. Kevin McGonigle led off the bottom half with his 17th, a drive to right-center. 3-1. Riley Greene scored on Max Clark's single. 3-2.

Adael Amador doubled Jordan Beck home in the fourth and took third on Eduardo Valencia's error. 4-2. Lee doubled Brett Callahan in. Colt Keith singled Lee home. 4-4. The Tigers had already left the bases loaded in the second, John Peck bouncing into a 6-4-3 double play, the AP recap said. They were still even and still wasting traffic.

McCarthy's two-run single off Tyler Kinley in the sixth, Beck and Amador scoring, made it 6-4. Greene's throw let McCarthy take second. Ezequiel Tovar led off the eighth with his 11th homer to left, a call that stood after a review. 7-4. Colorado had the three-run lead it wanted. Jaden Hill then entered and did not record an out.

Hill, Romano, and a walk that flipped the game

Lee doubled. Gleyber Torres doubled him home. Greene singled Torres in. 7-6. Valencia singled Zach McKinstry to third. Clark walked. Hill left. Jordan Romano inherited a bases-loaded mess and walked Spencer Torkelson, McKinstry scoring. 7-7. He walked Ben Malgeri, Valencia scoring. 8-7. Peck's sacrifice fly scored Clark. 9-7. McGonigle lined out. Lee then tripled Torkelson and Malgeri home off the right-field wall. 11-7.

Hill (1-4): no innings, four hits, five runs, one walk. Romano: one inning, one hit, two runs, two walks, a blown save. That is how a 7-4 lead becomes an 11-7 loss without a Rockies pitcher recording a clean out in the eighth until it was already 9-7.

Beau Brieske (1-0) got five outs for the win. Kenley Jansen threw a scoreless ninth, two strikeouts, 19 pitches. Andrew Sears had started and lasted 4 1/3, seven hits, four runs, Goodman's homer. Drew Sommers threw a scoreless seventh. The bullpen that won the game was not the one that started it.

Lee finished 3-for-5 with two doubles, a triple, three RBI, two runs, and a walk. McGonigle went 2-for-5 with a homer. Clark went 3-for-4 with a double, a walk, and an RBI. Valencia went 3-for-4. Keith stole a base and drove in a run. The Tigers left 13 on and still scored 11. Eighteen hits will cover a lot of stranded runners if the eighth inning finally cooperates.

Norby and Rumfield, and a road skid that would not break

Norby went 3-for-5. TJ Rumfield went 3-for-5 with a double. Goodman drove in three. McCarthy drove in two. Tovar homered. Amador doubled in a run. Colorado had 12 hits and still lost because the eighth inning in Detroit was a different sport.

Brennan Bernardino had thrown two scoreless for a hold. Juan Mejia walked three in a scoreless fifth. The Rockies did the hard part for six innings and a leadoff homer in the eighth. They could not get an out when it mattered.

Sunday is Jackson Jobe (1-2, 4.45) against Gabriel Hughes (0-7, 5.81). Detroit is seven games behind the White Sox in the AL Central and still playing like a club that can steal a weekend. Colorado is 35 games out in the NL West. A nine-game road losing streak does not need a second paragraph.

AthX Engine after the baseball

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) put Lee at 12 hitting fantasy points. McGonigle had 7. Clark had 7. Valencia had 6. Detroit finished with 18 team FP, fifth on a 15-game Saturday. Colorado finished at 2.

Fantasy points measure the night under platform scoring rules. Share prices also move with traders through dynamic pricing. They are related. They are not the same number.

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*Sources: ESPN recap and box score, MLB.com Gameday wrap, MLB.com schedule, and AthX Engine scoring. Information only; not financial advice.*