Tigers' Meadows hits a dramatic grand slam in the ninth inning to surprise the Padres

San Diego — Sure, that's coach-speak. It's a cliché. And then it happens. It happens again and again. And suddenly what you might consider to be just words seems more like deeply ingrained behavior.

Play all 27 outs.

“You look at the way this team plays and we're going to play all 27 outs and more if we have to,” manager AJ Hinch said after the Tigers' 32nd and most dramatic comeback win of the season on Thursday. “It's not always pretty. It's not always perfect. But there's a lot of fighting spirit and a desire to be good in this group.”

The Tigers, who had already lost the first two games of this series, were trailing 3-0 and had to throw their final strike against All-Star closer Robert Suarez at the start of the ninth inning.

The bases were loaded and Suarez had just struck out Kerry Carpenter for the second out by pumping three consecutive 100+ mph fastballs right past him. Parker Meadows was next and he missed the count.