Dillon Dingler hit two home runs and added the go-ahead RBI single in the 10th inning to help the visiting Detroit Tigers survive a comeback by the Chicago Cubs in an 8-6 extra-innings win on Monday night.
Detroit led for essentially the entire game, scoring four times in the first inning, until Ian Happ’s two-run homer off Kyle Finnegan in the eighth knotted the score at 5-5.
With runners on the corners and no one out in the 10th, Dingler hit a chopper deep into the hole at shortstop and beat the throw to first from Dansby Swanson. Spencer Torkelson added on with a two-run single.
Trent Thornton (3-3) took the loss despite only facing one hitter in the frame. He exited the game after Riley Greene’s liner hit him in the left heel, getting replaced by Javier Assad.
Pedro Ramirez got the Cubs one run back after reaching on an RBI fielder’s choice in the bottom of the inning and Swanson singled to bring the winning run to the plate, but Tyler Holton got Carson Kelly to ground out to close out the game.
Dingler — the Tigers’ starting catcher — shined on both sides of the plate, starting an inning-ending pickoff play to go along with a 4-for-5 night which included three RBIs.
Greene also homered for Detroit, opening the scoring with a three-run blast to right-center. Dingler tacked on with a solo shot to dead center the next at-bat.
In the third, it was Chicago’s turn to hit back-to-back homers. First, Seiya Suzuki hit a two-run shot off Jack Flaherty to cut the deficit in half. Michael Busch followed up with his 13th long ball of the season to make it a one-run game.
A baserunning snafu cost Chicago a chance to tie or take the lead in the fifth. Ian Happ was batting with runners on first and second with two out when Dingler successfully backpicked Suzuki at second.
Dingler took Tyler Ferguson deep to lead off the eighth, notching his third multi-homer game since June 1.
After Happ’s heroics, the Cubs had the bases loaded with a chance to walk it off in the ninth, but Kenley Jansen (2-4) struck out Alex Bregman to escape the jam.
Flaherty allowed three runs on four hits over four innings, striking out four and walking two. Cubs starter Jameson Taillon lasted 4 1/3 innings, giving up five hits and four runs with two walks and six strikeouts.
