Tigers shrink magic number to three with 7-1 win over Rays

DETROIT – Are you ready for this, Detroit?

The Tigers have put themselves in position to clinch a playoff spot for the first time since 2014 as early as Thursday night.

With their 7-1 win against the Tampa Bay Rays Wednesday, the Tigers shrunk their Magic Number to three. If the sinking Twins lose to the Miami Marlins Wednesday (it was tied in the 5th inning), the number would be two.

Thus, a Tigers win and a Twins loss Thursday – pop the corks.

But first things first.

Parker Meadows was the ignitor for the Tigers Wednesday.

Rays starter Zack Littell brought an 18-inning scoreless streak into the game. That lasted two pitches. Meadows lined a 1-0 slider into the right-field seats.

His ninth homer left his bat with an exit velocity of 109.6 mph. It was scalded.

Riley Greene doubled and scored on a single by Wenceel Perez and the Tigers were off to a fast 2-0 start.

Meadows struck again in the third. He led off with a single (104.6 mph off his bat) and advanced to second on a single by Matt Vierling.

Greene followed with a bullet single to right (109 mph). Right-fielder Josh Lowe fielded it on one hop. Maybe the only person in the park who thought Meadows had a chance to score was Tigers’ third base coach Joey Cora.

He windmilled his arms and Meadows put it in overdrive. Statcast timed his time from third to home at 3.15 seconds, his fastest time over that distance this season.

Meadows slid across the plate without a play.

There is a reason the Tigers are 52-26 when Meadows is in the lineup. He got three hits Wednesday.

Spencer Torkelson, who had been scuffling this month (13 for 70), detonated a 2-2 slider from right-handed reliever Manuel Rodriguez in the sixth inning for his 10th home run.

He fouled off four straight pitches before launching one 415 feet nearly reaching the concourse in left field.

The two-run homer gave the Tigers a 5-1 lead.

Torkelson struck again in the eighth. His double down the third base line scored Zach McKinstry from first.

Catcher Dillon Dingler followed with his second it and the Tigers had a comfy six-run lead.

There are multiple reasons why the Tigers also have the best record in baseball since Aug. 11 (29-11). Among them has been stout pitching. They came into the game with the lowest team ERA and WHIP in baseball.

Rookie Keider Montero struggled with his command and didn’t survive the third inning. But five different relievers had his back.

Lefty Sean Guenther entered in the third after Junior Caminero slugged a long home run to left-center off Montero and set down six straight Rays hitters.

He struck out three of them and left to a standing ovation. Since being called up from Triple-A Toledo, Guenther has allowed only two runs in 19 1/3 innings.

Brenan Hanifee (one inning), Tyler Holton (1.1) and Will Vest (one inning) got the game to the ninth.

It was the perfect situation for 22-year-old rookie Jackson Jobe to make his debut.

With the crowd of 32,463 on its feet and chanting, "Jobe, Jobe, Jobe," he gave up a one out single to Logan Driscoll but got through the inning with no damage.

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