Written by Dave Hogg at Pantagraph.com
After the eighth inning, the Comerica Park scoreboard greeted J.D. Martinez with a highlight reel set to the theme song from “Welcome Back, Kotter.”
The party was already well underway Wednesday night.
Martinez hadn’t played since fracturing his elbow June 16, but he pinch-hit in the eighth inning and hit Chris Sale’s first pitch into the shrubs above the centerfield fence to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead.
“I saw the pitch coming and it looked nice and slow, and I just knew,” he said.
The homer turned out to be the winning run as Detroit won its eighth straight and moved within two games of first-place Cleveland in the AL Central.
“That was like a movie,” Detroit infielder Ian Kinsler said. “That was something I’ve never seen before. It is certainly good to have him back.”
Martinez received a long standing ovation when he made his way to the plate to hit for James McCann, and it only got louder as he launched Sale’s fastball an estimated 434 feet.
“That was probably the coolest moment of my career,” he said. “I tried to go up there with a plan, but it was so crazy that I just decided to see the ball and hit the ball.”
The crowd of 32,526 roared again during the musical tribute until Martinez took a curtain call.
“If I could thank every fan individually, I would,” he said. “I didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t expecting any of that.”
Sale said he approached Martinez the same way he would had he been playing every day.
“Nothing different at all,” he said. “I haven’t looked at it again, but I thought it was a good pitch, but he’s a great hitter and they do things to win games. That’s what J.D. did to me.”
The White Sox put their first two runners on against Rodriguez in the ninth, and Melky Cabrera moved to third on Justin Morneau’s fly out. Rodriguez struck out Todd Frazier, but walked Avisail Garcia to load the bases. Dioner Navarro grounded out to second to end the game.
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