RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 3 sourcesSacramento, Calif. — When all the pre-game hustle and bustle finally subsided, the Tigers caught their collective breath and did what they came to do Friday night.
They won a baseball game, taking the first of three games from the Athletics at Sutter Health Park, 13-1.
There was so much to sort out beforehand, what with top prospect Max Clark being called up to make his big-league debut, with the starting pitcher Casey Mize being scratched as a precautionary measure ahead of the trade deadline Monday, with the Tigers announcing that reliever Will Vest had elbow surgery and will miss the rest of the season, the game felt like a sanctuary.
Clark, who started in centerfield, had himself a night. He walked in his first at-bat, then hit a single and two doubles in five plate appearances. He knocked in a run and scored twice.
The lefty-swinging Clark faced left-handed pitchers his first four times up. He walked and singled against starter Jeffrey Springs. Then, after grounding out in the sixth, he keyed a seven-run eighth inning with an RBI double off the wall in left field off lefty Brady Basso.
HAVE A DEBUT KID! @maxxclarkk13 is 3-4 tonight 🔥 pic.twitter.com/SeWKh0DC0O
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) August 1, 2026 His single in the second inning helped set the table for a sacrifice fly by rookie Kevin McGonigle that gave the Tigers a 2-1 lead. McGonigle got four hits in his debut on Opening Day.
McGonigle, who reached base three times, got the Tigers on the board in the third, launching a 415 foot homer to dead center. It was his 10th.
It was still 2-1 in the eighth when rookie Eduardo Valencia led off with a pinch-hit double. Spencer Torkelson singled him to third. Clark stayed on a first-pitch slider and swatted it off the base of the wall in left for an RBI double.
BOX SCORE: Tigers 13, Athletics 1
After Javier Báez singled, another rookie, Ben Malgeri was safe on an error by third baseman Tommy White, bringing Clark in to score.
McGonigle walked to load the bases and Dillon Dingler unloaded on a 1-1 slider, sending 411 feet over the left-center wall. It was his 23rd homer this year and his first big-league grand slam.
Clark finally got to face a right-hander in the ninth and doubled in a four-run inning highlighted by a two-run single by Báez and Malgeri’s first big-league homer.
The bullpen, after blowing a seven-run lead after the seventh inning against the Orioles on Wednesday, made that skinny lead stand up. Impressively so.
Lefty Tyler Holton started and gave up an RBI double to Jonah Heim in the first inning, a ball Riley Greene nearly made a spectacular diving catch on.
But that was it.
Ty Madden allowed two hits in three innings and Drew Sommers got six straight outs with three strikeouts.
Enmanuel De Jesus, just called up from Triple-A Toledo, finished off the final two innings.
This story will be updated.
@cmccosky
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Tigers rout Athletics in Max Clark's successful MLB debut
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