I though these guys were supposed to be bad?
After a dismal shutout last night against the Pirates, the Tigers were back for another round. This time, they had Casey Mize on the mound, taking on Mitch Keller for the Pirates. They were certainly hoping that with Paul Skenes done for the series, they would have a chance to tie up the series, but let’s see how that panned out.
In the top of the first, the Tigers got their first baserunner on early. Gleyber Torres got a one-out double, but two outs followed, leaving him stranded. In the home half, Spencer Horwitz singled. One out later, Bryan Reynolds doubled. Tommy Pham hit into a fielder’s choice, in which Horwitz got tagged out running for home, but two runners were left on base. An Oneil Cruz strikeout ended the inning with no runs scored.
Spencer Torkelson doubled to start off the second. However, three outs followed. The Pirates followed a familiar path to anyone who watched yesterday’s game. Ke’Bryan Hayes doubled to start things off, then with one out, Henry Davis walked. Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled to load things up. Horwitz doubled scoring two runs and getting the Pirates on the board first. Two outs followed, but the Tigers were now in the hole 2-0.
The Tigers went 1-2-3 in the top of the third. In the home half, Cruz got a one-out double, then Hayes reached on a fielding error by Zach McKinstry, scoring Cruz. Two outs followed, but the lead just kept getting extended.
Wenceel Perez started the fourth with a walk, then one out later, Spencer Torkelson singled. McKinstry hit into what was ultimately a double play, as Perez made a move for home, but in his slide efforts he managed to not tag home plate and the initial safe call was overturned, ending the inning.
In the home half Horwitz got a one-out double. Then, with two outs, Reynolds singled, scoring Horwitz and allowing Reynolds to get to second. A Tommy Pham single then scored Reynolds. Cruz doubled, but Pham got in trouble trying to get all the way home from first and got tagged out to end the inning. The score was now 5-0 Pirates.
Parker Meadows took a leadoff walk in the fifth, followed by a Javier Baez single. Then, unexpected hero of the moment Jake Rogers hit a three-run homer.
The next three Tigers batters were out in order, but the lead had been cut significantly. Casey Mize’s day was also done, with a final line of 4.0 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, on 86 pitches. A very rough outing for Casey, but that seems to just be par for the course for the Tigers this week. Brenan Hanifee came on in relief. Hayes reached on a throwing error by McKinstry, but three outs followed, so at least the damage from the mistake was limited.
Riley Greene got a leadoff single in the sixth. Meadows managed a two-out walk, but neither baserunner was brought in to score. Carlos Hernández came on in the bottom of the inning to pitch and… it didn’t go great. Horwitz struck out swinging, but thanks to a wild pitch, he was able to reach first. He advanced to second on a groundout, and then Reynolds singled to bring him home, while also advancing to second himself. Tommy Pham doubled to score Reynolds, which resulted in a pitching change, with Brant Hurter coming in. Hurter then threw a wild pitch, moving Pham to third. Oneil Cruz then walked. Hayes singled, bringing in another run. With two outs, Cruz stole third, and thanks to a throwing error by Jake Rogers, Hayes made it to second. No additional runs scored, but at the end of the inning the Pirates were up 8-3.
Isaac Mattson replaced Keller for the seventh. Gleyber Torres got a two-out single, but that was it for baserunners for the inning, and no runs scored. In the home half, Horwitz, who might now officially be a Tiger-killer, got a one-out walk. Two outs followed, though, ending the inning scoreless for both sides.
Caleb Ferguson was next out of the Pirates’ pen for the eighth. Spencer Torkelson got a one-out double, then with two outs a pinch-hitting Jahmai Jones got a two-run home run. At the mid-point of the inning the Tigers had narrowed the gap to three runs. In the home half, Pham hit a leadoff double, then with two outs Alexander Canario walked. Tyler Holton replaced Hurter and managed to get the final out of the inning.
The Tigers were down to their last chance to stage a comeback and they’d do it against David Bednar. Trey Sweeney walked, then Torres hit a one-out single. Alas, even with the tying run at the plate, the Tigers weren’t able to make it happen, dropping another game to the Pirates.