453 Days, One Surgery, and a Bases-Loaded Nightmare: Inside Alex Lange's Jaw-Dropping Tigers Return

A Comeback on the Brink

For 453 agonizing days, Detroit Tigers reliever Alex Lange waited for this moment. After 14 grueling months of rehabilitation from a major right lat surgery, he finally trotted out of the bullpen and onto the mound at Comerica Park. The Tigers held a commanding 10-0 lead over the Houston Astros, and his job was simple: get three outs. But what followed was anything but simple.

Lange himself confessed that the nerves for this return surpassed even those of his Major League debut. That pressure became palpable from his very first pitch. A 95.8 mph sinker was immediately drilled into left field for a single. The storybook comeback had hit a snag.

From Dream to Disaster?

After inducing a fly ball for the first out, the situation quickly unraveled. Lange issued a walk, then surrendered another single. Suddenly, the bases were loaded. The comfortable 10-run cushion felt fragile, and the feel-good story of the night was teetering on the edge of a full-blown disaster. The crowd grew tense as the tying run knelt in the on-deck circle. For any pitcher, it’s a high-leverage situation; for a pitcher making his first appearance in 14 months, it was a trial by fire.

With his back against the wall, Lange had to find something extra. He dug deep and turned to his most trusted weapon: a devastating, diving knuckle curve.

The Great Escape

Facing Astros catcher Victor Caratini with nowhere to put him, Lange unleashed the nasty breaking ball, getting a crucial swing-and-miss strikeout for the second out. The tension in the stadium was electric. One out away from completing the unbelievable comeback, he went back to the well, throwing the same nasty knuckle curve. The result was a harmless fly ball that settled into an outfielder's glove, sealing the 10-0 victory for Detroit.

The box score will show a scoreless ninth inning, but the journey to get there was a white-knuckle ride. It was a triumphant, nerve-shredding return that proved Lange's resilience. He stared down a crisis of his own making and emerged victorious, completing an inspiring comeback that was more than a year in the making. As he later recounted the final moments, the emotion was still raw: "I'm getting goosebumps now."