Washington, D.C. — The Tigers were hoping to get veteran left-hander Patrick Corbin out of the game sooner on Saturday.
The Washington Nationals deploy all right-handed pitchers in their bullpen. Tigers manager AJ Hinch had a fleet of left-handed hitters on his bench ready to exploit the matchup, not to mention lefty-swinging Riley Greene already in the middle of the lineup.
Corbin didn’t play to the strategy. He pitched six strong innings and the only smudge on his ledger was Spencer Torkelson’s 401-foot, two-run homer in the first inning. The last out he recorded was the 1,500th strikeout of his career — punching out Jonathan Schoop.