The Detroit Tigers got the kind of night that can change a room and a scorecard at the same time. Eduardo Valencia, called up from Triple-A Toledo earlier in the day, homered in his first MLB at-bat as the Tigers beat the Athletics 4-1 on Thursday at Comerica Park in Detroit.
The swing traveled 425 feet into center field and gave Valencia his first hit, RBI, run and home run. It also finished a sweep and stretched the Tigers' winning streak to five games, with seven wins in their past eight. For a club that has been trying to keep its season alive one night at a time, that matters now because the Tigers moved to 43-50 while still sitting 3 1/2 games back in the American League wild-card race and 4 1/2 games back of the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central.
Valencia was in the game because Dillon Dingler was injured, and he entered as a pinch hitter for Kerry Carpenter in the seventh inning. He worked the count to 2-1, then turned on a fastball and sent it deep to center. He finished 1-for-1 and was hit by a pitch in his second plate appearance, leaving him without an out in his young career. It was the 10th time a Tigers player homered in his first career at-bat, and the first since Akil Baddoo in 2021.
The home run came in a game the Tigers controlled with power from elsewhere in the lineup. Jake Rogers opened the scoring with a solo shot in the third inning off Athletics right-hander Jack Perkins, then Zach McKinstry added a two-run homer in the fifth. Rogers, who started at catcher, had his third homer of the season and his second in as many days, while McKinstry connected for his fourth. Framber Valdez handled the rest, working seven innings with nine strikeouts and one run allowed.
The result left the Tigers with momentum and a deeper lineup story than a single rookie moment. They are still chasing teams ahead of them, and the standings show how narrow the margin remains, but this was the kind of win that gives a team a reason to keep pressing rather than waiting for help. Valencia's debut home run did not solve the race. It made the next game feel more important.
