Detroit Tigers’ Scott Harris explains 2025 MLB trade deadline approach
President of baseball operations Scott Harris talks July 31, 2025, about how the Detroit Tigers took a conservative approach at the trade deadline.
- The Detroit Tigers lost to the Los Angeles Angels, 7-4, on Saturday night.
- Charlie Morton, making his second start for the Tigers, struck out 10 but gave up 6 runs in 4 1/3 innings.
- Javier Báez went 3-for-4 with a double and a steal for the Tigers.
Charlie Morton racked up 10 strikeouts.
He also allowed six runs.
The 41-year-old experienced both successes and struggles in his second start with the Detroit Tigers since arriving from the Baltimore Orioles at the trade deadline, but those struggles haunted the Tigers in a 7-4 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, Aug. 9, in the second of three games at Comerica Park.
The Tigers (67-51) have lost 17 of their past 25 games.
More importantly, the Tigers’ lead in the American League Central is down to five games over the Cleveland Guardians, with the Tigers and Guardians scheduled for six games in September. Just 32 days ago, the Tigers had a 14-game lead in the AL Central.
Morton allowed six runs on seven hits and one walk with 10 strikeouts across 4⅓ innings, throwing 90 pitches. The Angels tagged him for three runs in the fourth inning and two runs in the fifth inning, but the scoring began in the first inning.
In the first, the Angels took a 1-0 lead on a double by Taylor Ward, though the ball should’ve been caught by left fielder Jahmai Jones, who took a bad route.
It was Jones’ third outfield start in 42 games this season — and just his sixth outfield start in 111 MLB games.
The Tigers paid for Jones’ poor defense.
The Angels crushed Morton in the fourth and fifth innings, with Jo Adell’s three-run home run in the fourth for a 4-2 lead and Taylor Ward’s two-run home run in the fifth for a 6-4 lead. Both players hit curveballs for their homers.
Aside from the six runs on seven hits, Morton looked sharp. He tied a season-high 10 strikeouts, including seven strikeouts in a row from the end of the first inning through the end of the third inning.
At 41 years, 270 days, Morton became the oldest Tiger in franchise history with a 10-strikeout game, supplanting Tommy Bridges (11 strikeouts at 36 years, 201 days on July 17, 1943, against the Chicago White Sox) in the record books.
Morton, an 18-year MLB veteran, generated 20 whiffs on 45 swings for a 44.4% whiff rate: 14 curveballs, one four-seam fastball, three cutters and two changeups. HIs fastball averaged 94.2 mph, and his curveball missed bats, but the two home runs hurt him.
He has a 5.48 ERA in 25 games (19 starts).
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Four runs vs. Yusei Kikuchi
The Tigers stacked their lineup against left-hander Yusei Kikuchi with nine right-handed hitters, including switch-hitter Wenceel Pérez in the fifth spot.
Pérez sparked the Tigers in the second inning.
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He fouled a ball off his right foot and needed a visit from an athletic trainer, but two pitches later, he ripped an inside slider down the left-field line for a leadoff triple. He scored on an ensuing RBI single by Andy Ibáñez to tie the game, 1-1. After Javier Báez’s double, a sacrifice fly from Jake Rogers put the Tigers ahead, 2-1.
The Tigers added two more runs in the fourth inning.
Back-to-back singles from Dillon Dingler and Báez set the table for Matt Vierling’s sacrifice fly and Gleyber Torres’ RBI double — once again tying the game, 4-4.
Kikuchi allowed four runs on eight hits and two walks with seven strikeouts across five innings, throwing 102 pitches. He owns a 3.37 ERA in 25 starts.
Rafael Montero shines, Codi Heuer debuts
Right-handed reliever Rafael Montero — whom the Tigers acquired from the Atlanta Braves at the trade deadline — will receive more opportunities if he pitches well.
That happened in Saturday’s game.
Montero replaced Morton, retiring two batters to complete the fifth inning and three of four batters to complete the sixth inning. Four of his five outs were groundouts. The only hit was a single by Gustavo Campero with two outs in the sixth. He struck out Yoán Moncada swinging with a splitter in the fifth.
Montero has a 5.49 ERA in 41 relief appearances.
Right-handed reliever Codi Heuer — acquired from the Texas Rangers at the trade deadline and recently promoted from Triple-A Toledo — made his Tigers debut in the eighth inning. He surrendered a solo home run to Luis Rengifo on a middle-middle 93.8 mph fastball.
The homer from Rengifo increased the Angels’ lead to 7-4.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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