Hao-Yu Lee sparked a seven-run, eighth-inning rally with a double and capped it with a two-run triple as the host Detroit Tigers downed the struggling Colorado Rockies, 11-7, on Saturday.
Lee had three hits, scored twice and drove in three runs. Max Clark supplied three hits while scoring a run and knocking in another. Eduardo Valencia also had three of Detroit’s 18 hits while Kevin McGonigle added a solo homer for the Tigers (69-79).
Detroit became the first team since Philadelphia on Sept. 23, 2024, to have its leadoff batter reach safely in eight consecutive innings.
Hunter Goodman blasted a three-run homer for the Rockies (55-93), who have lost six straight.
Detroit starter Andrew Sears gave up four runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings. Colorado starter Tanner Gordon allowed four runs and 10 hits in four innings.
Down 7-4 in the eighth, the Tigers rallied against Jaden Hill (1-4). Lee led off with a double and scored on Gleyber Torres’ double. Riley Greene knocked in Torres with a single.
A single and a walk loaded the bases before Hill was replaced by Jordan Romano, who walked Spencer Torkelson and Ben Malgeri to force in the tying and go-ahead runs.
John Peck drove in Clark with a sacrifice fly to make it 9-7. With two outs, Lee ripped an opposite-field triple to bring in Torkelson and Malgeri.
Colorado took a 3-0 lead in the third on Goodman’s 38th homer.
Detroit got two of those runs back in the bottom of the inning. McGonigle powered a changeup over the right-field wall to lead off the frame. After back-to-back two-out singles by Greene and Valencia, Clark smacked another single to right to bring in Greene.
The Rockies took a 4-2 lead in the fourth on Adael Amador’s double.
The Tigers knotted the score at 4-all in the bottom of the inning on Lee’s run-scoring double and Colt Keith’s RBI single.
Colorado regained the lead in the sixth on Jake McCarthy’s two-run single, then took a 7-4 lead on Ezequiel Tovar’s homer off Beau Brieske (1-0) in the top of the eighth.
