Spencer Torkelson Ends His Home Run Drought, but Detroit Still Needs More
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Between July 31 and September 1, Spencer Torkelson saw 36 pitches in the middle of the strike zone. He went 5-for-13, with three doubles, but could not break his negative streak of 106 plate appearances without a home run.
On Wednesday night, with the Detroit Tigers trying to avoid a sweep at Target Field, Torkelson came to the plate with a runner on second in the top of the 12th inning. He had gone 0-for-3 since entering the game as a pinch-hitter for Colt Keith to begin the fifth. His night, to that point, had been a rough one: a line-drive out to left field, a strikeout in the seventh and a ground-ball double play in the ninth.
With a 1-0 count, Tommy Nance came back with a slider, but this time it stayed in the middle of the strike zone. Torkelson did not miss it. He hit a booming two-run home run to left field that gave the Tigers an 8-6 lead.
Five plate appearances later, Javier Báez hit a double down the right-field line that brought three more teammates home with the bases loaded, and Detroit put together a five-run rally to beat the Minnesota Twins 11-6 in 12 innings.
LATE NIGHT TORK 💣 pic.twitter.com/NOwt8D6Zdo
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) September 3, 2026
More Than a Home Run for Torkelson
The home run that started the Tigers’ attack in the 12th inning was Torkelson’s 21st of the season and added 32.8% to Detroit’s win probability by itself, leaving the Tigers at 82.8%. But the 382-foot blast also marked an important difference: it ended Torkelson’s streak of 109 plate appearances and 28 games without a home run.
As you can see, it was the fourth-longest home run drought of Torkelson’s career. But there is something else interesting here: his four worst home run droughts have been tied to the months of July and September.
His two most recent ones have included some portion of the second half of the season. The longest, which lasted 39 games and 169 plate appearances in 2023, began on the final day of the regular season and ended in May 2024.
The other interesting point here is that, among the stretches in which Torkelson accumulated at least 75 plate appearances, his best offensive line came this season. During his home run slump, the fact that he was hitting .264/.368/.330, with a .698 OPS, helped compensate for part of his lack of power.
Before Torkelson hit the home run, his combined drought with Dillon Dingler had reached 200 plate appearances. Dingler did not play in the series finale, so there is another interesting story here, as his streak remains at 91 plate appearances without a home run since August 7.
This season, Dingler and Torkelson have combined for 47 home runs, and they are the only two Tigers hitters with at least 20 home runs and 65 RBIs. The fact that both have been going through a power drought has inevitably been a significant loss of production for the Tigers’ lineup, which has fallen to an average of 3.6 runs scored per game over the last 30 days.
Detroit Still Needs More From Its Young Core
The two losses this week in Minneapolis extended Detroit’s streak to six consecutive series losses since August 16, the club’s longest stretch without winning a series since an eight-series losing streak from May 4-31.
Detroit now has a 14-27 record in its 41 games against division opponents this season. Among the division’s four best teams, the Tigers have been the only team with a record below .500 within the AL Central, behind the White Sox (25-14), Guardians (20-19) and Twins (22-21).
After scoring 11 runs for the first time since August 6, Detroit will return to action Friday to finish this AL Central road trip with a four-game series in Cleveland, which will begin with a doubleheader (day/night).
The win to avoid the sweep in Minnesota felt good, and Torkelson’s power finally made an impact again. Now, the Tigers need Dingler to join him, with the adjustments that can allow him to lead Detroit’s young core again. They have not played their best baseball over these last three weeks, but Detroit showed once again that it is not going to give up.
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Yirsandy is a baseball writer specializing in MLB coverage with experience across multiple teams and storylines. He currently writes for Diamond Centric, where he covers the New York Mets, San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers, and Kansas City Royals. My work focuses on game coverage, player analysis, and storytelling that connects performance with context. My Substack has also been an important part of my writing development, where I’ve built much of my baseball coverage and storytelling voice over time. I’m passionate about combining reporting, research, and thoughtful analysis to produce engaging baseball content for readers.
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