Kevin McGonigle: "We didn’t give up on ourselves, and I feel like a lot of people gave up on us"

When the Tigers traveled to Pittsburgh Sunday night, they left a rough weekend behind.

After getting swept by the White Sox in a crucial series in the AL playoff race, the Tigers bounced back Monday night by beating up the Pirates. Detroit raced out to an 8-1 lead, sparked in familiar fashion by Kevin McGonigle, the Rookie of the Year favorite who drilled a two-run homer in the second.

Plenty of outsiders wrote the Tigers off when they sold Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize at the trade deadline. That's fine, says McGonigle. The Tigers are tied for the final AL wild card spot and trail the White Sox by 4.5 games in the Central, with less than 40 games to go.

"We didn’t give up on ourselves, and I feel like a lot of people gave up on us," McGonigle said in a postgame interview with ESPN Monday night. "And I think that just pushes us to get better each day. Losing Skube was a big deal for us, but that doesn’t change the fact that we go to work every day and play hard and play as a team.

"I think we’re doing a really good job of that, and that’s what’s keeping us in the swing of things."

The Tigers have won a franchise-record seven straight series on the road, with a chance to make it nine this week, with two more games against the Pirates followed by three against the last-place Royals. They could return for a big homestand against the Rays and Dodgers at or above .500 for the first time since May.

McGonigle, who touts an .810 OPS this season, has teamed up with fellow 2023 draft pick Max Clark to give the Tigers a glimpse of what they've been waiting for. But McGonigle deflects credit for his success to those around him.

"The biggest thing is surrounding myself with the right people, and the guys in this dugout are the right people," he said. "They push me every day to get better and better. And also, just staying committed to my approach that I had coming up through the minors, just being on the fastball, being ready to hit every at-bat, and don’t take a pitch off. That’s my mindset going into every game."

The fans have supported McGonigle from the start, even before he arrived in Detroit. Many of them were clamoring for the Tigers to call him up last year. McGonigle has one request of them. He would like his own pair of McGonigoggles -- the viral goggles worn by a young fan at Comerica Park when McGonigle notched his first career walk-off hit back in June.

Made with two plastic cups and not much else, they've become synonymous with McGonigle himself, and a symbol of a resilient club that doesn't care what anyone else thinks.

McGonigle said he doesn't yet have his own McGonigoggles, but "I’m still looking for a pair."

"I’m hoping a fan can customize a good pair for me," he said with a smile. "Usually when I see them, I stop by and say hi to the kids or the people that are wearing them. I love it."