DETROIT >> Spencer Torkelson said he missed Detroit.

And, maybe, just maybe, the lineup missed him — at least, this version of him.

Torkelson doubled to kick-start a three-run second inning, then later tripled and played some pretty impressive defense at first base to help lead the Tigers past the New York Yankees, 4-0, before a crowd of 38,110 on Saturday afternoon at Comerica Park.

Before Detroit’s fourth-largest home crowd of the season (eclipsing Friday night’s crowd), it was Torkelson’s first game for the Tigers since June 1, after which he was sent down to Triple-A Toledo, where he remained until his callup before Saturday’s game.

“It felt really good,” Torkelson said in a happy Tigers’ clubhouse Saturday night. “Just to contribute and feel like myself out there, felt awesome.

“There were good nerves come into today. Nerves that, you know, you love to play with.”

Torkelson, the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2020, received a nice ovation when he stepped into the batter’s box in the second inning — a reception, honestly, he wasn’t really expecting

Torkelson, the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2020, received a nice ovation when he stepped into the batter’s box in the second inning — a reception, honestly, he wasn’t really expecting —then quickly worked the count full, before drilling Carlos Rodon’s pitch to center for a leadoff double. Two batters later, Torkelson scored on Zach McKinstry’s two-out single to center — a lefty-lefty matchup won by McKinstry. Matt Vierling then walked, and Andy Ibanez, the Tigers’ resident lefty crusher, smoked a double to left, clearing the bases to make it a three-run inning and a 4-0 lead.

The Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the first on Justyn-Henry Malloy’s two-out double, and Colt Keith’s RBI single in his return to the lineup after missing Friday’s game with leg cramps.

All four of the Tigers runs were scored with two outs. Half of the Tigers’ 10 hits were by lefties against left-handed pitching, Keith and McKinstry each with two hits off lefties, and Jace Jung getting his first major-league hit with a sharp single to right in the third. He clapped his hands as he rounded first; he finished the game with two hits.

“I loved our approach,” manager AJ Hinch said. “Tork had incredible at-bats.”

Jung also made a web gem at third base, a new position for him, ranging to his left, diving and throwing out Alex Verdugo to end the fourth.

Asked which was better, the first major-league hit or the first exceptional defensive play, Jung, his uniform covered in dirt, didn’t hesitate.

It was the hit. You don’t put a web gem in the trophy case.

“I like making diving plays, but the hit, the first hit, that’s hard to come by,” Jung said. “So just get that one out of the way was fun.”

Saturday was pretty much fun all around for the Tigers, and nobody had more fun than Torkelson, who’s demotion to Toledo lasted two-and-a-half months.

After striking out in his second at-bat, Torkelson tripled up the gap in right-center field in the sixth inning off the Yankees’ Tim Mayza.

“I’m happy for him,” Hinch said. “I thought the fans were really good to him, and I appreciate the way they welcomed him back.

“Everybody wants to feel the love, and everybody wants to feel that the work that they’ve done shows up. So, a really good day for Tork, and a nice welcome back.”

Torkelson must’ve been feeling frisky. The first pitch to Jung got away from catcher Austin Wells but not very far. Torkelson dashed home anyway and appeared safe, but was called out and it held up on replay. Mayza got the tag on Torkelson’s back before his left hand touched the plate. The left hand actually got stuck in the dirt; the right missed the plate.

“I should’ve been in there,” said Torkelson, who finished 2-for-3 with a walk.

No matter. The offense against Rodon (13-8), who went just 3.1 innings for his shortest outing of the season, was more than enough for the Tigers, who at 60-64 remain in striking distance of their first winning season since 2016. Detroit got five dazzling innings from Keider Montero (4-5), who allowed two hits and two walks while striking out five. He left after he walked Gleyber Torres to lead off the sixth, and he left to a standing ovation.

Among his five strikeouts, he got Aaron Judge looking in the first and Juan Soto swinging in the first. The Soto K was especially satisfying, Montero said.

“I did the same thing he did to me,” Montero, who’s won three straight starts and has gone at least five innings in nine straight, said through Tigers team translator Carlos Guillen. “He was staring at me, and kept looking at me all the time.

“So I did the same thing, kept looking at home all the time, and enjoyed the moment.”

Lefty Tyler Holton relieved Montero, and was excellent, throwing three innings of one-out ball — and he joined Jung in the defensive-highlight department. Pinch-hitter and local boy DJ LeMahieu (Birmingham Brother Rice) hit a soft chopper well in front of the mound, Holton raced to get it, barehanded it, spun and threw a strike to Torkelson. (It bears repeating, Torkelson was superb on defense, with multiple fine scoops.)

Holton gave way to Jason Foley, who worked around an Aaron Judge double to lead off the ninth and a two-out walk to Verdugo. Anthony Volpe, with two outs, hit a line shot to the fence in left field, where Vierling jumped up and caught it, as the Tigers won for the first time in five games against the Yankees this season.

The sixth and final game of the season series is scheduled for Sunday night in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, when the teams square off in MLB’s seventh Little League Classic. The game will be on ESPN, weather permitting.