Inge's improbable blast the latest stage of long, eventful journey with Detroit

Longtime Tiger Brandon Inge accomplished the improbable in Game 4. (Photo: AP/Paul Sancya)

The Detroit Tigers lost 7-3 to the Texas Rangers in Game 4 of their American League Championship Series with the Texas Rangers, as Mike Napoli and Nelson Cruz delivered in the 11th inning to send the home team to elimination’s brink. There is the taste of defeat heading into a must-win Game 5, but who made extra innings possible cannot be overlooked or under-appreciated.

Brandon Inge began his career in Detroit. That was in 2001, when he was a 24-year-old catcher. He’s been through everything since. The Tigers lost 105 games in 2002 and 116 in 2003. They were awful, and so was he, hitting .202 and .203 in 651 at-bats over that span. Then they began to really improve, and as their fortunes changed so did Inge’s. In 2004, they shaved 26 losses off the previous year’s total (and their run differential remarkably changed from -337 to -17). He was a big part of that extraordinary transformation, hitting .280 with 13 homers and 54 rbi’s in an everyday role as a catcher, third baseman, or outfielder.

He continued to go as the team did. In 2006, he had his best all-around season, hitting 27 homers and driving in 83 rbi’s. That year, Detroit happened to reach the World Series.

He had been at the Mendoza Line on a dreadful team and an impact player on a championship contender. He had been through all but one up-and-down a ballplayer can experience. The only thing that was missing was a demotion.

He remained a fixture on the Tigers, with a significant hand in their continual winning ways. As his career progressed, Detroit knew he wasn’t going to get on base even 33 percent of the time or bat above .250, but he played the game as hard as anyone and could be counted on to drive in 70-plus runs and club his fair share of homers year in year out.

He was so valuable that when he broke his right hand in July of 2010 the Tigers were scrambling for a replacement. His being lost for potentially six weeks was thought to be a big problem.

“A month to six weeks is a long way to go if you are fighting for a pennant,” manager Jim Leyland said at the time. “It doesn’t mean I don’t have confidence, but I don’t expect Scott Sizemore to be Brandon Inge.”

This spoke to how highly Leyland thought of him. Inge was the classic case of statistics only telling part of the story. Since his solid 2004 season, he hadn’t had more than a .330 On Base Percentage. And, from 2006 to 2010, his highest was .321, which is absolutely paltry. But that didn’t matter. He did the little things, and he had the toughened mind of a guy who was a part of 100-loss seasons. He also left everything on the field. He played a solid third base, worked his tail off to produce at the plate, and had the determination and never-give-up attitude managers dream for from a player. He was the longest-tenured Tiger. And then, his run nearly came to an end.

Inge had lost his swing. He entered the 2011 season coming off that broken hand, and his mechanics were out of whack. He managed only four hits in 57 at-bats spanning June and July, and Detroit decided to make the most difficult a team can make. They designated Inge for assignment. He could either join the Triple-A team or become a free-agent.

The 34-year-old didn’t want to leave the organization he joined as a 21-year-old second-round pick, so he accepted the assignment to Toledo. It’s hard to believe many veterans would have done that.

At the time of his demotion, he had a very thoughtful interview with reporters:

"

“It’s my fault. It was rough having the harsh reality sink in. But I live hear, my kids go to school here. I’ve made this home. And I still feel no matter what happens, no matter whatever happens, that this is going to be home for me. I’ve spent so many years here and I plan on spending many more. Everyone goes through some rough patches in their career.

[Owner] Mr. [Mike] Illitch expressed how he did not want to release me, he did not want me to go anywhere. I can’t tell you how much that right there meant to me. He’s given me so many opportunities to be a player here, and I’m the type of guy if you give me an opportunity to play I’ll play as hard as I can for you.

It just wasn’t working out right there, and it gives me an opportunity to go down there and work on my swing, and I’ll be back up here.”

"

Inge made his way back, hit .314 in 34 September at-bats, and was Detroit’s starting third baseman to begin the playoffs. There he remained, and entered Game 4 of the American League Championship series with a .300 batting average and three runs scored.

Even with his recent success, what he did in the seventh inning of Game 4 was stunning and so magical. Detroit was behind 3-2, having lost a 2-0 lead when he stepped to the plate against reliever Alexei Ogando, who was equipped with a 99 miles-per-hour fastball and a offsetting 83 miles-per-hour changeup. Inge didn’t shrink from the challenge. After all, he never has. He guessed right on the at-bat’s third pitch, a blazing fastball, and somehow turned on it.

The ball, hit high to right field, looked like a deep flyout at first. Then it kept carrying. I yelled ‘Go! Go! Go!’ far too loud. The ball did go, landing amongst the fans. Behind 0-2 in the count, Inge had tied the game with just his fourth homer of the season. “Unbelievable,” said announcer Tim McCarver. It was.

“That was special,” Inge said after the loss. That it was, a home-run and moment he won’t soon forget.

Austin Jackson won’t, either. “I got chill bumps,” the 24-year-old Tigers outfielder added. “He told me they gave him a curtain call for the first time in his career. That was pretty cool.”