LAKELAND, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers won, 11-7, against the Baltimore Orioles on Friday at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium.

Detroit is 6-6 in Grapefruit League play.

Spencer Torkelson hit two home runs, but the top prospects — center fielder Max Clark, shortstop Kevin McGonigle, designated hitter Josue Briceño — stole the attention in their first games alongside MLB players in 2025 spring training. They were called up from minor league camp, only for the game.

"They'll get into a couple more games before the prospect game," manager A.J. Hinch said, referencing the Spring Breakout game scheduled for March 16.

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For the in-game assignments, Clark backed up Ryan Kreidler in center field, McGonigle backed up Trey Sweeney at shortstop and Briceño backed up Torkelson at designated hitter.

Clark — the No. 6 prospect in baseball and the No. 2 prospect in the organization — produced a sacrifice fly in his first-ever plate appearance, making contact on a 95.1 mph sinker from Orioles right-handed reliever Félix Bautista in the fifth inning. He grounded out in the sixth inning.

McGonigle finished 0-for-2 with two strikeouts; Briceño went 0-for-1 with one walk and one strikeout.

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Right-hander Keider Montero generated 12 whiffs on 24 swings for an elite 50% whiff rate, but as dominant as his individual pitches performed, his poor command led to some struggles. He allowed four runs on four hits and two walks with five strikeouts across 2⅔ innings.

He threw just 31 of 55 pitches for strikes.

"The first inning wasn't as good as I expected," Montero said in Spanish, interpreted by Carlos Guillén. "Of course, the second and third innings were totally different because I made some adjustments. I focused on attacking the strike zone on the first pitches."

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Montero surrendered all four runs in the first inning on an RBI single from Heston Kjerstad and a three-RBI triple from Samuel Basallo. Three of the four hits off Montero in the first were by left-handed hitters, including Kjerstad and Basallo.

He bounced back by retiring all three batters in the second and three of four batters in the third. After a leadoff walk, Montero struck out the next three batters — Kjerstad, Coby Mayo, Dylan Carlson — to complete his outing.

For his 12 whiffs, Montero got them with four sliders, three fastballs, three changeups, one curveball and one sinker. His fastball averaged 95 mph.

The Tigers torched Orioles right-hander Dean Kremer for six runs.

Torkelson, the No. 1 overall pick in 2020, smacked a 93 mph four-seam fastball — located up-and-away in the strike zone — for a solo home run the opposite way to right field in the second inning. He hit the ball 342 feet with a 98.5 mph exit velocity.

"It's just a matter of getting my timing," Torkelson said. "I feel great. I'm being athletic and putting a good swing on the ball, and I'm really disciplined with my approach. That's what it takes."

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But Torkelson wasn't done.

Torkelson also turned on an 83 mph splitter that Kremer left up in the strike zone, unloading for a pull-side solo home run to left field in the fourth inning. For his second homer, he hit ball 382 feet with a 102 mph exit velocity.

"The next step after being in the cage all winter is to go up against competition," Hinch said. "I'm just really proud of him for getting some success out of it to know that some of the subtle adjustments are paying off."

Gleyber Torres also hit a two-run home run off Kremer, doing so in the first inning.

Before Torres' homer, Riley Greene snapped an 0-for-9 stretch (with two walks and seven strikeouts) by hitting a line-drive single the opposite way to left field in the first inning. Going to the opposite field is a sign Greene is heating up, which is exactly what happened.

Greene collected three hits in three trips to the plate.

Right-hander Casey Mize dominated.

The 2018 No. 1 overall pick tossed three scoreless innings on one hit and one walk with five strikeouts. More notably, the 27-year-old generated 11 misses on 19 swings for a jaw-dropping 57.9% whiff rate, including six whiffs on six swings with his splitter.

"Pretty good," Mize said. "I felt good."

His splitter was the best it has been since his college days at Auburn.

Mize threw 21 of 35 pitches for strikes, then simulated a fourth inning in the bullpen to complete his workload requirements. His fastball averaged 95.6 mph.

"I don't know how many pitches I threw," Mize said. "I definitely wanted to keep going. I need to build up for the season, so I want to throw as much as I can. When stuff feels good, you definitely want to ride that out and keep it going as well."

Left-handed reliever Andrew Chafin, wearing No. 0, signed to a minor-league contract for his third stint with the organization, made his first spring training appearance. He threw a scoreless inning with one strikeout, but his sinker averaged just 88 mph — down from 91.7 mph last season.

1. Torkelson; 2. Mize; 3. Torres.

Saturday (1:07 p.m., no TV) vs. Toronto Blue Jays in Dunedin.

Contact Evan Petzold at [email protected] or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers batter Baltimore Orioles, 11-7, in spring training