The Detroit Tigers, who were on a nine-game losing streak entering Monday’s game against the Atlanta Braves were finally able to snap their streak and win game number one in the month of June. Cuban Andy Ibañez was crucial to their comeback win tonight as he hit a crucial home run.
In the 2022-2023 offseason, the Detroit Tigers signed outfielder Andy Ibañez to a minor league deal. After slashing .297/.418/.609/1.027 with five home runs and 16 RBIs with the Tigers AAA affiliate, he forced the call up and despite very early struggles, Ibañez seems to finally be getting into a rhythm after the game he had on Monday.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, with the Tigers down 4-0, Ibañez is the one who got the comeback going and crushed a 403 foot solo homer that left the bat at 105.4 MPH and was a home run in 28 out of the 30 major league stadiums (Not in Coors and Camden Yards). This was Ibañez third home run of the season came off of Braves reliever Scott McHugh, who threw a 78 MPH sweeper up in the zone which Ibañez took advantage off and gave Detroit run number one of the game. Ibañez ended the night going three for four and was just a triple shy of the cycle. To say that the Cuban outfielder was impressive is an understatement.
Ibañez also made an incredible throw in the top of the tenth inning to keep the game tied at five apiece when Braves outfielder Sam Hilliard attempted to tag home. Ibañez throw was the out to end the inning since it was a double play. The Cuban outfielder made an impact on both sides of the ball tonight.
As for how the Tigers were able to comeback and win the ballgame, well, Cuban reliever Raisel Iglesias gave up three earned runs in the bottom of the ninth. First, a two-run homer to former number one overall pick Spencer Torkelson and then an RBI single to Zack Short. After Iglesias gave up a base hit to Ibañez, Atlanta pivoted to Joe Jimenez who gave up a two-run walk-off homer to Spencer Torkelson to win the game with a final score of 6-5.
With the win, the Tigers are now 27-37 while the Braves loss puts them at 40-26 on the season. As for Ibañez, he is now slashing .202/.239/.375/.614 with three home runs and nine RBIs. Despite the numbers, the World Baseball Classic participant will get it going soon and become an integral part of the Detroit Tigers who still look to take the very weak AL Central.