A rally. 

Tigers 6, White Sox 4

A walk and two singles greeted Jeff Samardzija in the first and it looked like the Tigers were on their way to a winning streak. Then came the bottom of the inning where a single, error, and home run gave the Sox the lead very quickly against Alfredo Simon (11 GS, 71.2 IP, 2.76 ERA, 3.61 FIP). An inning later, Eaton tripled in a run and the Tigers looked desperate. The Tigers got one in the 4th and then rallied hard in the 6th with bombs from Cespedes and Martinez to retake the lead. They added on and Simon cruised, pushing the club two games over .500, claiming a series win. They’ll take a day off and get the Cubs with Anibal Sanchez (12 GS, 74.1 IP, 5.69 ERA, 4.50 FIP) driving the bus.

The Moment: JD Martinez homers to lift the Tigers ahead.

A corner?

Tigers 7, White Sox 1

It finally happened. The Tigers won a baseball game. The last Tigers win was so long ago, a horse literally won a Triple Crown in between. Jokes aside, things went right on Saturday night in Chicago. David Price (12 GS, 83.1 IP, 2.92 ERA, 3.08 FIP) was on his game, striking out seven in a row at one point and finishing with 11 strikeouts and 2 walks over 9 innings. The bats also did the job with hits for everyone, a bomb from Cabrera, and a huge day from the bottom three men in the order. After such a long slog of losing, the Tigers got good pitching, good hitting, and an Iglesias defensive play. It was everything you hoped for when the season started. They’ll try to (gulp) win a series, with Alfredo Simon (10 GS, 63.2 IP, 2.97 ERA, 3.59 FIP) going Sunday.

The Moment: David Price finishes his business.

Unjust.

White Sox 4, Tigers 3

Kinda feel cursed after this one. The Tigers mostly did everything right in this game. Kyle Ryan (1 GS, 10 IP, 2.70 ERA, 4.81 FIP) pitched very well over seven innings, Ausmus essentially used his pen properly, and they got some timely hits to pick up some runs. Avi Garcia got them for a homer and then Adam LaRoche hit a wall scraper to send it to extras. In the 11th, they surrendered a walk of hit by pitch and you almost had to laugh. Even when things looked good, they ended in shambles. Heck, Josh Wilson broke the game open! How do you lose that game? David Price (11 GS, 74.1) IP, 3.15 ERA, 3.28 FIP) will try to stop the eight game losing streak on Saturday.

The Moment: Josh Wilson puts the Tigers ahead.

Tiring.

A’s 7, Tigers 5

Gosh, Tigers. The final score looks okay, but it was another bad day for Shane Greene (12 GS, 65 IP, 5.40 ERA, 4.47 FIP) and the bats were awfully quiet until the Toledo Mud Hens showed up in the 9th inning to make it close. After seven straight losses, there isn’t a whole lot to say. Perhaps sending Kyle Ryan (3 IP, 3.00 ERA, 6.12 FIP) to the mound on Friday against the White Sox will work, but maybe it won’t.

The Moment: Tyler Collins makes it a ballgame.

More of the same.

A’s 6, Tigers 1

If you close your eyes and pretend the 2nd inning didn’t happen, this still wouldn’t have been a great game. It might have been a little better, but it still would have been a 3-1 loss that featured very little offense. Anibal Sanchez (12 GS, 74.1 IP, 5.69 ERA, 4.50 FIP) had his bad inning in the 2nd, but was solid enough otherwise and the Tigers ran into Sonny Gray, who is an Actually Good Pitcher, so this particular loss is more aggravating in the context of the others than on its own. They’ll try to avoid a sweep and seven straight losses behind Shane Greene (11 GS, 60.2 IP, 5.19 ERA, 4.53 FIP) on Thursday.

The Moment: Uhh….um….err….?

More like last year. 

A’s 5, Tigers 3

Alfredo Simon (10 GS, 63.2 IP, 2.97 ERA, 3.57 FIP) didn’t really pitch well, but he probably deserved a better fate. He was wild, but got himself out of trouble on a couple of occasions and it all fell apart when he left the game. The Tigers finally put together a little offense in the 4th after giving away a chance with some bunts in the 3rd. Single, single, walk, single, double set up three runs, but unfortunately, it wouldn’t be enough. In the 7th, the A’s got three singles and a fielder’s choice against Simon and he left the bases loaded for Nesbitt and Zobrist. Zobrist hit a dinger and that’s all she wrote. Also, there was that thing when Kinsler threw home for no reason. That wasn’t fun. Anibal Sanchez (11 GS, 67.1 IP, 5.75 ERA, 4.29 FIP) will try to turn the luck around on Wednesday.

The Moment: Castellanos singles in a pair in the 4th.

Pretty darn ugly. 

Angels 4, Tigers 2

Let’s cut to it. The Tigers and Angels played to a draw through seven innings. 2-2 game, going into the 8th inning. Some stuff happened before the 8th inning, but let’s just let that go. David Price (11 GS, 74.1 IP, 3.15 ERA, 3.27 FIP) came out and walked Freese. Iannetta got an infield single. Sac bunt. Intentional walk. One out. Bases loaded. Price is tired. Not only did Ausmus leave Price in for another batter, he had Chamberlain and Hardy up in the pen. Price got an out. Ausmus got Chamberlain. He made a fine pitch and somehow, it got past second base and Kinsler and Iglesias found a way to allow the runner to score from second base. The Tigers would lose 4-2. There were little things about this game, like a weird IBB from the Angels to Iglesias, and some stupid base running by the Tigers, but the team’s best reliever wasn’t even warming up with the leverage index above 3 even though he didn’t pitch in the series. And then the team’s awesome middle infielders made a really bad play. It was ugly. It was a bad weekend and we should all go to bed angry. Alfredo Simon (9 GS, 57.1 IP, 2.67 ERA, 3.58 FIP) returns Tuesday.

The Moment: No one got hurt.

An ambush. 

Angels 8, Tigers 6

At the end of the day, it looked like the Tigers made a game of it, but they simply couldn’t overcome Shane Greene’s (11 GS, 60.2 IP, 5.19 ERA, 4.53 FIP) disastrous outing. Greene gave up five homers and seven runs in fewer than two innings, but the bullpen did their job, holding the Angels to just one additional run the rest of the way. They pecked away after a Yoenis Cespedes homer and Kinsler ended his homer-less streak, but the six runs didn’t measure up. They’ll try to avoid a sweep with David Price (10 GS, 66.2 IP, 2.97 ERA, 3.29 FIP) Sunday night.

The Moment: Cespedes mashes one.

Not as bad!

Angels 2, Tigers 0

On one hand, you can look at this game as a pretty solid step forward for the run prevention side of the ledger against the Angels. Instead of allowing 12 runs, they allowed only two runs, and Anibal Sanchez (11 GS, 67.1 IP, 5.75 ERA, 4.31 FIP) allowed only one home run. He pitched pretty well over seven innings of work and kept the Tigers in the game, but they didn’t offer much of a fight against Hector Santiago until the 8th, but they couldn’t cash in on the bases loaded situation. At this point, winning a series against the Halos is too much to ask, but just the mere fact that it wasn’t a blowout is a victory. Shane Greene (10 GS, 59 IP, 4.27 ERA, 3.46 FIP) will get the ball on Saturday.

The Moment: Iglesias makes a tremendous throw in the 3rd.

Bad? Bad.

Angels 12, Tigers 2

So this started off ugly with a pair of early homers off Buck Famer (1 GS, 5 IP, 12.60 ERA, 8.52 FIP), then it calmed down, and then against all odds managed to get worse. Nesbitt and Gorzelanny couldn’t quell the uprising and the team let it get out of hand in the later innings, but it was over long before that. Anibal Sanchez (10 GS, 60.1 IP, 6.12 ERA, 4.43 FIP) will try to end the curse of the Angels on Friday.

The Moment: Kinsler works to very long PA.