Wenceel Pérez makes up for flub with big bunt in Detroit Tigers' 4-3 win over LA Dodgers
Sometimes, it's better to receive than to give — at least for Wenceel Pérez.
Eight innings after a defensive flub from the Detroit Tigers rookie handed the Los Angeles Dodgers an early lead, he received a gift of his own, as Dodgers reliever Yohan Ramírez fired a throw past third base on Pérez's bunt in the ninth inning to allow the winning run to score from second base.
The Tigers beat the Dodgers, 4-3, in the finale of the three-game series — and the final game before MLB's All-Star break — on an improbable series of hits and errors to improve to 10 wins in their past 14 games.
The Tigers (47-50) enter the break — Monday through Thursday — having won two of three games over the Dodgers, two straight series against division leaders and three straight series overall. There are 65 games until the end of the regular season.
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Shortstop Zach McKinstry, facing the franchise that drafted him in 2016, opened the ninth with a triple down the right-field line off the right-handed Ramírez.
That brought rookie Justyn-Henry Malloy to the plate; the rookie DH poked the third pitch of the at-bat, a 82.4 mph sweeper, into center to bring McKinstry home and tie the game. But the Tigers weren't done. Fellow rookie Ryan Vilade attempted to lay down a bunt on the first pitch from Ramírez; the ball popped up and Ramírez attempted to catch it, but instead had it bounce off his leg and into foul territory, allowing Vilade to reach safely and Malloy to reach scoring position.
Pérez then dropped a bunt in front of the plate on a high 93 mph four-seam fastball; Ramírez fielded it cleanly, but fired well wide of the bag at third, allowing Malloy to come all the way around for the winning run.
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Kenta Maeda finds relief
McKinstry wasn't the only Tiger facing his former team on Sunday: Right-hander Kenta Maeda, who pitched for the Dodgers from 2016-19, jogged out of the bullpen to open the fourth inning, making his first appearance since being removed from Detroit's starting rotation.
The 36-year-old faced the minimum 11 batters in his 3⅔ scoreless innings with five strikeouts.
Shohei Ohtani ripped a single past McKinstry with two outs in the fifth inning, but catcher Carson Kelly threw out Ohtani trying to steal second base.
Maeda struck out five batters along the way: Miguel Rojas (looking, 92.6 mph fastball) in the fourth inning, Chris Taylor (looking, 93.5 mph fastball) and James Outman (swinging, 83.4 mph slider) in the fifth inning, Freddie Freeman (swinging, 81.2 mph slider) and Teoscar Hernández (swinging, 83 mph slider) in the sixth inning.
His primary three pitches — fastball, splitter, slider — looked sharp for the first time in the 2024 season.
Maeda generated 11 whiffs on 28 swings (39.3% whiff rate) with three splitters, two fastballs and six sliders. His fastball averaged 92.9 mph (up from 90.3 mph) and maxed out at 94.1 mph, while his splitter averaged 85.9 mph (up from 83.6 mph) and his slider averaged 83.3 mph (up from 82 mph).
His ERA dropped from 7.26 to 6.88 in his 17th game.
The Tigers signed Maeda to a two-year, $24 million contract in November 2023, paying him $14 million in 2024 and $10 million in 2025.
Wenceel Pérez's costly mistake
The Dodgers scored all three of their runs in the first inning.
It was a 27-pitch first inning for right-handed reliever Beau Brieske, who started the bullpen-only game, but Brieske should have been able to send down the Dodgers in order.
The first three batters: Ohtani (lineout), Will Smith (double) and Freeman (flyout). On Smith's double, the ball deflected off Pérez's wrist while he tried to make the catch in shallow right field for the second out.
The mistake from Pérez — ruled a double, not a fielding error — ultimately extended the first inning, allowing the Dodgers to score three runs on Hernández's RBI double, Andy Pages' RBI single and a rundown in which Pages scored from third base before Rojas was tagged out between first and second base.
Trailing 3-0, left-handed reliever Tyler Holton replaced Brieske for the second and third innings before giving way to Maeda in his first relief appearance this season.
The Tigers, meanwhile, scored their first two runs in the fourth and sixth innings. Gio Urshela delivered a sacrifice fly in the fourth, scoring Colt Keith; McKinstry plated a run with a force out in the sixth, scoring Riley Greene.
Keith finished 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers deliver another rally, this time with bunts, in 4-3 win
