The Detroit Tigers will head into the All-Star break with the best record in the majors, but they’re stumbling toward the layoff. The Tigers have lost three straight, including two at home to the Seattle Mariners.
They’ll play their final game prior to the festivities on Sunday afternoon, looking to salvage the finale of a three-game series against the Mariners.
Detroit’s 7-3 loss to Tampa Bay on Wednesday snapped a five-game winning streak. The Tigers lost to the Mariners on Friday and Saturday — 12-3 and 15-7, respectively — even though All-Stars Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize started those contests.
“We’re in a tough situation right now,” catcher Jake Rogers said. “We’re not playing like we have, but we’ve got to keep going. We’re in a little bit of a lull right now. It happens in baseball. We’ve got one more game before the break, then I hope we come back after (it) energized.”
In Saturday’s game, the Mariners racked up 19 hits and scored in all but two innings.
“Just pick up the pieces and get to tomorrow,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “Clearly these are some ugly losses and uncharacteristic of our pitching to put us in such deep holes. We’ll come back tomorrow and try to be better.”
Seattle had four players with at least three hits in Saturday’s onslaught. Julio Rodriguez homered for the second straight game, while Luke Raley and Randy Arozarena also went deep.
“We got huge lifts kind of all the way through the game,” manager Dan Wilson said. “Just a great effort all around from those at-bats.”
Oddly, Cal Raleigh was the only player in the starting lineup who didn’t get a hit. Raleigh smacked two homers on Friday to reach 38 for the season. He needs one more long ball on Sunday to tie Barry Bonds for the most homers prior to the All-Star break.
Logan Gilbert (2-3, 3.88 ERA), who will start the series finale for Seattle, hasn’t lasted more than 5 2/3 innings in his last 10 starts. He has given up four or more earned runs in three of his last four starts, including his most recent outing against the New York Yankees on Tuesday, when he allowed five runs (all earned) on six hits in 5 1/3 innings.
The Yankees scored four of those runs in their 10-3 victory in the sixth inning, including a three-run blast from Giancarlo Stanton.
“It was a tough one (Tuesday). The Yankees (hit) several homers and it broke the game open,” Wilson said. “I thought Logan threw the ball well early on. He was pretty dominant. They were able to get him there with (the) Stanton (homer).”
Gilbert is 1-2 with a 4.19 ERA in four career starts against Detroit.
He’ll be opposed by Jack Flaherty. In his last outing on Tuesday, Flaherty (5-9, 4.70 ERA) held Tampa Bay to two runs in 6 1/3 innings while recording eight strikeouts. That was the fewest runs he had allowed since June 8.
“It was a good day,” Flaherty said. “(Catcher Dillon Dingler) called a really good game and the guys made some big plays.”
Flaherty is 2-0 with a 4.41 ERA in three career starts against the Mariners.
–Field Level Media
