Tigers waste Keider Montero's strong start in loss to Brewers

Chris McCosky, The Detroit News on Apr 21, 2026

Published in Baseball

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DETROIT — The Tigers like to play aggressive baseball and apply pressure on the opponent at every turn.

The Milwaukee Brewers, they pretty much own the brand.

“It’s no secret,” Jake Rogers said before the game Tuesday, “they wreak some havoc.”

The havoc started in the second inning, when the Brewers scored three times on their way to a 12-4 romp in the first of three games at Comerica Park. The loss snapped the Tigers’ six-game home win streak.

“It’s not just a philosophy,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said. “They do a good job playing to their strengths. They make you make plays. I think it’s fun to challenge yourself against a team that thrives on applying pressure.”

The second inning hit quick, if not particularly hard.

It started when Garrett Mitchell, with his elite 30 feet-per-second sprint speed, beat out a routine ground ball to shortstop. Tigers starter Keider Montero walked Luis Rengifo, fell behind Sal Frelick and then gave up RBI single to right.

David Hamilton dropped a perfect bunt single to load the bases.

After Montero struck out Blake Perkins, Brice Turang dropped a broken-bat single into shallow right field. Two runs scored easily and a potential third run was cut down at the plate by a well-executed relay and rundown by the Tigers.

Right-fielder Matt Vierling threw a head-high strike to cutoff man Spencer Torkelson in the middle of the diamond. The throw was high enough to entice Turang to go to second.

Torkelson, second baseman Gleyber Torres and shortstop Kevin McGonigle kept Turang in the rundown until Hamilton, who was rounding third, broke for home.

McGonigle pivoted and threw him out at the plate.

Vierling talked about trying to deal with the Brewers’ aggression before the game.

“It starts with awareness,” he said. “They are going to go. Like, No. 1, they are going to go first to third, they are going to try to steal, they are going to try to take every 90 feet. So, you have to attack every ball in the outfield.

“You need to throw it in quick and hit the cutoff man.”

He did, but the fatal damage had been done.

The Tigers were handed an opportunity to flip the game in the bottom of the fourth, but they deferred.

Kyle Harrison, the Brewers’ lefty starter staked to a 3-0 lead, walked Riley Greene and Torkelson and then gave up a bullet single to Hao-Yu Lee. Lee, in his Comerica Park debut, hit the ball so hard (110.6 mph off the bat), Greene didn’t have a chance to score from second.

That ended Harrison’s night but only one of those runners would end up on his ledger.

Right-hander Grant Anderson, who throws nasty four-seamers and sweepers with a side-arm delivery, got Javier Báez to ground into a double play, which brought Greene home.

Hinch, fourth inning or not, took his shot using lefty Kerry Carpenter to pinch hit for Jahmai Jones.

Anderson struck Carpenter out with a sweeper.

That turned out to be the last gasp for the Tigers’ offense.

The Tigers did what you cannot do against the Brewers in the seventh. They gave them an extra out and paid for it with two tack-on runs.

Lefty reliever Enmanuel De Jesus got the first two outs in the seventh before giving up single to lefty swinger Hamilton and then walked No. 9 hitter Perkins. He had a chance to end the inning right there. He caught Hamilton leaving second base early. He ran right at him, like he’s supposed to, but his throw to second baseman Torres was errant and Hamilton strolled into the third base.

Turang and William Contreras followed with RBI singles.

Things went completely off the rails in the eighth as the Brewers batted around and tacked on seven more runs.

Gary Sanchez and Turang hit back-to-back triples off De Jesus. It was the fourth career triple for the slow-footed Sanchez.

De Jesus didn’t record an out in the eighth. He was pulled after he reacted late and wasn’t able to beat Hamilton to the bag on a ground ball to Torkelson at first.

Connor Seabold, entering with the bases loaded, hit Perkins to force in a run. He ended up allowing three inherited runs and two of his own before finally ending the frame.

Catcher Jake Rogers pitched a scoreless ninth.

The Tigers (12-12) managed one hit from the fourth to the eighth. They rattled off four in the ninth, including an RBI single by Kevin McGonigle and a two-run double by Vierling.