Detroit Tigers' offense quiet early in Beau Brieske's MLB debut, 3-2 loss to Rockies

Beau Brieske wasn't perfect in his MLB debut.

The 24-year-old wasn't asked to be.

But the Detroit Tigers' 27th-round pick in 2019, appeared comfortable and displayed why he belongs at baseball's highest level with his performance.

The Tigers lost, 3-2, in Game 2 of Saturday's doubleheader against the Colorado Rockies in front of 28,635 fans at Comerica Park.

"Nowhere near my best, to be honest," Brieske said. "I felt like I did a good job grinding. I felt like I did a good job with my process, staying composed and confident. But I know that I will be better. I can do better, I will be better and I need to be better."

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Although Brieske surrendered a pair of home runs, the right-hander worked through five innings and kept his team within striking distance.

"I feel like both the (home run) pitches were the right pitches," Brieske said, "just lack of execution."

Detroit's offense didn't show up to help, at least not for most of Game 2. Left-handed starter Austin Gomber pitched six scoreless innings on four hits, zero walks and eight strikeouts.

"He never threw the same pitch twice in a row," Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. "He changed speeds. He changed locations. We couldn't elevate the ball. His slider early was really good. We got some funky swings on that, and he got some ground balls. I was impressed."

In Game 2, the Tigers (6-8) totaled six hits, three walks and seven strikeouts. Robert Stephenson and Tyler Kinley followed Gomber with two scoreless innings.

Alex Colome came in for the ninth, but ran into trouble when Jeimer Candelario singled to open the inning. After groundouts by Eric Haase and Spencer Torkelson, pinch-hitter Robbie Grossman walked to bring up Austin Meadows. He tripled to drive in two runs, but Colome recovered to strike out Harold Castro with the tying run on third.

"He knows how to conduct an at-bat," Hinch said of Meadows. "He doesn't panic. He doesn't get discouraged if he falls behind (in the count). He just stays in the at-bat, stays in the fight. He woke up everybody."

The Tigers defeated the Rockies, 13-0, in Game 1 of the doubleheader and tallied 20 hits as Miguel Cabrera notched the 3,000th hit of his 20-year MLB career. The 39-year-old finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs in Game 1 and 1-for-4 with a first-inning single and two strikeouts in Game 2.

Cabrera has 3,002 hits.

Beau's a go

The first pitch of Brieske's MLB career, a 95.5 mph four-seam fastball, went for a called strike. His second-pitch slider traveled to the lower-third quadrant of the strike zone, then traveled over the left-field wall.

Connor Joe welcomed Brieske to the big leagues with a solo home run.

Brieske collected himself and retired the next three batters: Charlie Blackmon (groundout to shortstop), Kris Bryant (groundout to shortstop) and C.J. Cron (foul-tip strikeout). He struck out Cron — the first of his career — with an elevated 96.4 mph four-seam fastball.

"I was really encouraged with Beau," Hinch said. "He did a great job. ... I was very, very happy with his composure. His stuff was really good, his recovery after the first hitter he faced in the big leagues goes deep. Very proud of him. Very happy for him."

A perfect second inning for Brieske featured a swinging strikeout of Sam Hilliard with his changeup for the second out.

In the third, Brieske allowed a one-out, two-strike single to Alan Trejo on an 0-2 fastball. Facing Blackmon, a left-handed hitter, Brieske surrendered a two-out, two-run home run on a curveball at the bottom of the strike zone.

Blackmon, a four-time All-Star, put the Rockies ahead 3-0.

"It was two homers and two-strike hit," Hinch said. "If he's going to be frustrated with anything, it's the 0-2 hit that set up turning the lineup over, and Blackmon hit a homer. He hits homers off a lot of people."

Brieske, known for throwing strikes with his fastball and trusting his secondary pitches, allowed three runs on three hits and two walks with three strikeouts. He fired 45 of 73 pitches for strikes.

His command faltered in the fourth, issuing back-to-back walks with two outs in the fourth inning. A mound visit from pitching coach Chris Fetter, along with a sharp play from shortstop Willi Castro, eased Brieske out of the jam.

Brieske pitched a perfect fifth inning to wrap up his MLB debut.

For his 73 pitches, Brieske used 43 four-seam fastballs (59%), 14 changeups (19%), seven sliders (10%), six curveballs (8%) and three sinkers (4%). He racked up eight swings and misses and 10 called strikes.

His fastball averaged 94.6 mph, maxing out at 96.7 mph.

"I feel a little bit more relaxed, after the game is over," Brieske said. "I'm happy to get it out of the way. I'm glad that I had friends and family show up to watch me pitch. But really, now it's time for me to take it like it's my job."

Before joining the Tigers, Brieske made two starts for Triple-A Toledo. He had a 4.50 ERA with three walks and nine strikeouts over 10 innings. He won the organization's minor-league pitcher of the year award last season and, according to MLB Pipeline, ranks as the farm system's No. 22 prospect.

After Beau

Once Brieske took a seat, the Tigers turned to right-handed relievers Alex Lange (sixth inning), Will Vest (seventh inning) and Drew Hutchison (eighth and ninth innings).

The Tigers' bullpen didn't allow a runner to reach safely until Hutchison walked Bryant to open the ninth. Still, Hutchison worked around his four-pitch with three strikeouts in a row: Cron, Ryan McMahon and Hilliard.

Lange struck out one batter. Vest posted two strikeouts. Hutchison logged five strikeouts over his two innings.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers' offense quiet in 3-2 loss to Colorado Rockies