Dillon Dingler, Framber Valdez launch Tigers to home opener win
· Yahoo Sports
Home sweet home.
The warm weather was beautiful – bright sunshine, temps in the 70s and blue skies. Detroit Tigers pitcher Framber Valdez was excellent. The offense perked up, Dillon Dingler went yard and the Tigers rolled to a 4-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in their home opener at Comerica Park on Friday, April 3.
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The Tigers snapped a four-game losing streak and have now won 15 of their last 18 home openers. The shutout was their third in a home opener, following blankings in 2015 and 2016 – also by 4-0 scores.
The Tigers took control when Dingler, the Gold Glove catcher, crushed a two-run home run in the fourth inning, getting the ball up in a strong wind. Dingler’s homer traveled 433 feet, the longest of his career (his previous long was 419 feet in 2025).
Dingler now has two homers for the season.
The rest of his teammates have none.
Ground level approach
Valdez, the ground-ball machine, got the start for the Tigers.
He scattered three hits over six innings, striking out five and walking just two. In typical fashion, Valdez got the Cardinals to ground out nine times. But Hinch was ready for that, putting together his best infield defense: rookie Kevin McGonigle at third, Javier Báez at short, Zach McKinstry at second and Spencer Torkelson at first.
"It's easy to do it with Valdez because he's such a ground-ball creator," Hinch said before the game. "Infield defense is super-important. Playing clean, which we have not done in both series, is going to be important today."
And for the most part, it worked.
A huge decision moment
One of the interesting moments came in the fifth inning.
With two outs, St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol brought in lefty Justin Bruihl to replace Michael McGreevy.
That was a decision point for Hinch. Would he bring in Jahmai Jones?
Nope.
He let lefty Kerry Carpenter stay in the game and Carpenter responded by singling to center, sending Gleyber Torres to third. Then, lefty Riley Greene seemed to use the same approach. He had an easy controlled swing against the lefty, not trying to over swing and hit a single to center field, as the Tigers took a 3-0 lead.
Legging out a run
Parker Meadows used his legs to give the Tigers another run.
Meadows was hit by a pitch in the sixth inning and then stole second, giving the Tigers a scoring opportunity.
And Báez did the rest.
Báez singled on a ground ball to left fielder José Fermín and Meadows scored with ease.
Whole lotta room in center
Before the game, McGonigle went onto the field and took some video, checking out the stadium. “Super-excited. a little deep to center," he said before the game. "But I'm sure I can get a few out there. So I'm excited to get on the dirt today and play.”
Then, wouldn't you know it, that's exactly what he did.
In his first at bat in Comerica Park, McGonigle hit a ball 403 feet to deep center. But it was just a long out.
Yes, plenty of players before him have looked at center and thought: man, that’s a long ways (center is listed as 412 on the fence, brought in from 420 feet a few years ago).
For the record, Riley Greene did the same thing. He crushed a ball to center but it was caught on the warning track at 409 feet.
So, McGonigle went to a different strategy in the fifth inning.
He sliced a ball into left field and got a hustle double.
In his final at-bat, he got thrown out at first after a grounder to pitcher Michael McGreevy.
Trying to clean things up
More than anything, Hinch wanted the Tigers to play clean baseball.
"You got to play clean to beat teams in the big leagues," he said. "When I say clean, not just field the ball, but execute the plays, take the outs when they give them to you, and then, and then swing at the right pitches on offense."
But the Tigers got sloppy in the third inning.
Yohel Pozo hit a grounder to first base but Torkelson had trouble fielding it. He grabbed the loose ball and flipped it to Valdez. But the ball smacked against his bare pitching hand.
He started shaking his hand, so a trainer went to check on him.
Valdez then walked Thomas Saggese to load the bases.
After a Chris Fetter mound visit, Valdez got out of the jam when José Fermín flied out to Greene in left.
Contact Jeff Seidel: [email protected]. Follow him on X @seideljeff
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers blank St. Louis Cardinals on 2026 Opening Day