KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Detroit Tigers right-handed reliever Jason Foley jogged from the bullpen to the mound for the bottom of the 10th inning against the Kansas City Royals in search of his 25th save, with the free runner on second base.

Foley was tasked with protecting a two-run advantage, facing the best hitters in the Royals’ lineup.

“I just told myself to attack the zone,” Foley said.

A successful save from Foley, who pitched for the third game in a row, completed the Tigers’ 3-1 win over the Royals on Tuesday in the second of three games in the series at Kauffman Stadium.

The Tigers (79-73) extended their winning streak to three games and continued their winning ways in pursuit of the third and final spot in the American League wild card.

They’ve won 24 of their last 34 games.

“We’re just going to keep doing our thing and playing our game,” said Parker Meadows, who drove in the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th inning. “Show up every day, have fun, converse all day, play cards and just stay relaxed, be in the moment and keep up punching in big situations. This team is really good.”

With the win, the Tigers stayed 1½ games behind the Minnesota Twins in the wild-card race, which is actually 2½ games considering the tiebreaker, as the Twins beat the Cleveland Guardians in the second of four games in their series.

There are 10 games remaining in the regular season.

In the 10th inning, the Tigers grabbed a 2-1 lead on a one-out bloop single from Meadows, dropping a first-pitch changeup into shallow left field. The free runner in extra innings scored from third base, but the only reason the runner advanced to third base was because right-handed reliever Lucas Erceg balked.

“I’m going to start him tomorrow,” manager A.J. Hinch said in response to a reminder that the Tigers have a 42-23 record when Meadows starts. “It’s really remarkable. He’s been an impactful player on both sides, and he can still get a lot better. We’re excited that we feel like we can win with him.”

The Tigers padded their lead, 3-1, when Riley Greene hit a RBI single up the middle with two outs, scoring Meadows from second base. Meadows had moved up to second base because Erceg walked Matt Vierling on four pitches.

In the bottom of the 10th, Foley sent down Bobby Witt Jr. (groundout), Salvador Perez (flyout) and Michael Massey (flyout). His toughest assignment — that’s Witt — leads MLB with a .331 batting average in 152 games.

Foley needed just 11 pitches.

“He’s one of the best hitters in the league,” Foley said of the Witt matchup, “so just try to attack the zone and really focus on that first out and don’t be terribly concerned with the runner on second just because we had a little bit of a buffer. I just tried to get that first out.”

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Saving Casey Mize

Right-hander Casey Mize didn’t have his best command throughout his 20th start, but he particularly struggled in the fifth inning when he loaded the bases with one out, forcing an early exit.

The 27-year-old walked Witt and Perez, his final two batters. The Tigers then turned to right-handed reliever Shelby Miller, who induced an inning-ending double play on a first-pitch slider to Massey.

Thanks to Miller, Mize allowed just one run on six hits and four walks with three strikeouts across 4⅓ innings, throwing 89 pitches.

“We found a way,” Mize said. “I think that’s obviously the most important thing with what we’re trying to do right now. We won the game. It wasn’t pretty or perfect from my end, but I gave it everything I had with every pitch.”

There were some positive signs: His velocity was up on his four-seam fastball (plus-1.4 mph), slider (plus-2.8 mph) and splitter (plus-3 mph), and his slider generated four whiffs on nine swings. It was a step in the right direction, even though Mize had sub-par command.

In the third inning, Meadows completed an incredible running catch in center field to save Mize from another run. The running catch stranded two runners.

“It was a tough one,” said Meadows, who covered 75 feet with a sprint speed of 27.6 feet per second. “I got a pretty good jump. I didn’t think I got the best jump, but I was able to makeup for it. I kind of beat it to the spot, and I looked up at the last second, and I saw it was catchable.”

Mize has a 4.36 ERA in 20 starts.

Cooked by Cole Ragans

The Royals have the AL’s second-best left-handed starter in Cole Ragans, only because Tarik Skubal — the Tigers’ ace — is the undisputed best southpaw.

Facing the Tigers, Ragans allowed one run on four hits and four walks with six strikeouts across seven innings, throwing 105 pitches. The highlight of his 31st start was stranding two runners with back-to-back strikeouts of Trey Sweeney and Dillon Dingler in the fourth inning.

But the Tigers took a 1-0 lead within their first two batters, as Andy Ibáñez reached safely on a hit-by-pitch and Vierling followed by cranking a middle-middle cutter for an RBI double to left-center field.

After that, Ragans shut down the Tigers.

He has a 3.24 ERA in 31 starts.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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The Kansas City Chiefs are reuniting with a familiar face as the team is reportedly signing running back Kareem Hunt to the practice squad.

Reported by Nate Taylor of The Athletic, Hunt now returns to the team that drafted him in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft.

With starting running back Isiah Pacheco reportedly set to miss 6–8 weeks due to a fractured fibula, it’s no surprise that the Chiefs wanted to add depth at the position. It was, to most, a surprise that Hunt was the first back to visit Kansas City. Hunt was waived following an off-the-field incident in 2018 and later admitted that he “didn’t tell [the Chiefs] everything,” leading to the team choosing to cut Hunt even after he racked up nearly 3,000 yards from scrimmage in 27 games with the Chiefs.

Hunt spent the 2019–23 seasons with the Cleveland Browns, with his most productive year coming in 2020. Last season, Hunt appeared in 15 games and carried the ball 135 times for 411 yards, good for 3.0 yards per carry, a career-low. He also caught 15 passes for 84 yards, also hitting a career-low 5.6 yards per reception. At 29 years old, it’s hard to project Hunt’s fit in the Chiefs’ offense as he slots in behind undrafted free agent rookie Carson Steele and veteran Samaje Perine, who is just over a month younger than Hunt.

On Monday, head coach Andy Reid acknowledged that general manager Brett Veach would be looking at options to reload the running back room in Pacheco’s absence behind Steele and Perine, though practice squad backs Emani Bailey and Keaontay Ingram may have an early advantage after spending training camp and the preseason with the Chiefs.

“As far as Pacheco goes, we’ll go with the guys that we have here now,” Reid said. “Veach is kind of going through his list and looking at people, and we’ll just see where that goes. But we’re blessed to have some good people here.”

Read More: Andy Reid Addresses Timeline for Isiah Pacheco Injury Recovery, State of KC’s RB Room

Five-star prospect Jalen Haralson, one of the top prospects in college basketball’s 2025 recruiting class, has reportedly canceled visits to Kansas and Missouri. He’s additionally moved up his official visit to Purdue to this coming weekend, per 247Sports.

So far this fall, Haralson has taken visits to Indiana, Notre Dame and Michigan State. He’s also made a visit to Auburn.

“I feel like whenever I have that gut feeling that I’ll know,” Haralson said, per 247Sports. “I’m getting close to that decision and I think that I will make it really soon. I don’t know the exact date yet but I think it will be really soon after I get back from the Purdue visit.”

Haralson is ranked as the No. 14 overall prospect in the 2025 recruiting class and is considered the best player out of Indiana. The 6-foot-6 wing began his career at Fishers High School (Ind.) before transferring to La Lumiere in LaPorte.

As a freshman, Haralson averaged 16.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists per contest. He made a big jump in his sophomore campaign, averaging 23.1 points, 7.7 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.1 steals per game.

Purdue appears to be in really good position as Haralson nears his final decision. How much will the visit to West Lafayette impact his choice? It doesn’t sound like we’ll have to wait long to find out.

Coach Matt Painter and his staff have been incredibly active on the recruiting front over the summer, but the Boilermakers still don’t have a commitment yet in the 2025 class. We’ll see if that changes in the near future when Haralson makes his final decision.

PURDUE PREMIERING SEASON RECAP VIDEO: Purdue is opening Mackey Arena the night before the Homecoming game vs. Nebraska to premier its 2023-24 season recap video of the Boilers’ Final Four run. CLICK HERE

PURDUE-IU BASKETBALL DATES SET: College basketball insider Jon Rothstein reports that the dates are set for the two men’s basketball games between Purdue and Indiana in the 2024-25 season. CLICK HERE