High-scoring Tigers roar to FCL title

The first championship of the 2024 Minor League season belongs to the Rookie-level Florida Complex League Tigers.

After making the FCL playoffs as a wild card, the Tigers won all three of their postseason games, including a sweep of the FCL Pirates that they capped off with a 12-1 win on Monday afternoon at Pirate City Complex.

The win gives Detroit's affiliate its second championship at the level, following a 2018 title for the GCL Tigers West when the circuit was known as the Gulf Coast League.

The FCL Tigers narrowly earned the final playoff spot at 34-23, just edging the 35-24 FCL Rays and FCL Red Sox, but the Tigers had one of the most potent offenses in the league this season. They ranked second in home runs (46) and third in runs (332) while leading in walks (315). That strength was on display Monday in their third-highest-scoring game of the campaign.

"Our younger group, they're very disciplined at the plate," FCL Tigers manager Salvador Paniagua said. "They make good decisions in the strike zone. That's one of the things they do the whole year, making sure they swing at strikes and making hard contact."

After spotting the Pirates a run in the bottom of the third on a Yordanny De Los Santos (PIT No. 16) sacrifice fly, the Tigers roared back to score five runs in the fourth inning. Angel Cruz doubled in two runs before advancing to third on a wild pitch and scoring on Juan Hernandez's sac fly. Reylin Perez and Franyerber Montilla each singled in a pair of runs to break open the game.

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The Tigers added runs in each of the next three frames and put an exclamation point on the scoring with doubles by Montilla and Nomar Fana in the ninth to plate three.

All nine Tigers hitters reached safely or scored a run, with Montilla and Enrique Jimenez (DET No. 18) leading the way with three hits apiece. Starter Pedro Garcia tossed six innings of one-run ball, while Moises Rodriguez earned the save for three scoreless innings of relief.

"I just told them how proud I am of them," Paniagua said. "Every day, it doesn't matter, they all come to try to get better every day. And that was our goal, to get that 1 percent better every day. And I think that's what they did. They worked hard every day and deserved the championship because they did a great job."