Detroit edges Milwaukee 5-4 behind Hurter in tight MLB battle

Spencer Torkelson ended a back-and-forth afternoon at Comerica Park with a walk-off solo homer in the ninth, pushing the Detroit Tigers past the Milwaukee Brewers 5-4 and underlining how thin the margin was in a game that swung on every late-inning decision.

The Tigers, who improved to 14-12 overall and 10-2 at home, got the final word after Milwaukee had taken a 4-3 lead in the ninth. Brant Hurter handled the shutdown work in the top half of the inning, throwing 0.2 scoreless innings before Abner Uribe came back out for the bottom half and took the loss, falling to 1-1. Detroit’s ability to absorb Milwaukee’s seventh-inning surge, answer in the eighth, and then finish in the ninth separated a home club that kept its poise from a road team that could not close the door.

Detroit built its early edge on Riley Greene, who finished 2-for-3 and launched a two-run homer in the first inning to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. Tarik Skubal protected that advantage through the first stretch, retiring the first 11 batters he faced and throwing strikes on 24 of his first 26 pitches. Milwaukee still worked back into the game, and Skubal finished with four runs allowed on seven hits and five strikeouts over six innings, leaving the door open for a bullpen finish.

The Brewers took advantage in the seventh. Blake Perkins doubled to tie the game, and David Hamilton followed with a single off Tyler Holton to put Milwaukee ahead 4-3. Detroit answered in the eighth when Jahmai Jones hit his second home run of the season to tie it again, setting up the final inning and turning the game into a test of which club could execute once the pressure tightened.

Torkelson supplied that answer after already homering the previous day, giving him back-to-back games with a long ball. The final swing capped a 2:35 game that began at 1:10 p.m. ET under sunny 73-degree conditions before 25,224 fans, and it finished a three-game interleague series in which Detroit showed it could win a game shaped by late-inning pressure rather than early control.