Some type of nightmare. 

White Sox 7, Tigers 6

When you score six runs on the day Chris Sale starts, you assume it was a good day. It was not. The Tigers and Sox traded single runs early and then Victor Martinez turned on an 0-2 pitch from Sale for a home run to give the Tigers a 3-1 lead in the 3rd. The Sox tied it an inning later, but the Tigers counted by tacking on three additional runs over the next few innings. Alfredo Simon (6 GS, 36.2 IP, 3.44 ERA, 3.82 FIP) looked a lot like the Simon we’ve been expecting, giving them 5 innings of 3 run baseball with some control issues. The Tigers had a 6-3 lead and only two innings left, but unfortunately Joakim Soria only gets to pitch in one of those innings and the White Sox pummeled Joba Chamberlain in the 8th inning, taking the lead from the Tigers and putting them on the ropes for the 9th. Castellanos reached base via a single and then McCann singled but TOOTBLAN’d himself, setting up an Iglesias game ending ground out. It was quite the defeat and they’ll try to salvage one behind Kyle Lobstein (4 GS, 25.1 IP, 3.91 ERA, 3.23 FIP) on Thursday.

The Moment: Victor homers in the 3rd.

Erratic. 

White Sox 5, Tigers 2

You’d like to see the Tigers get more than a pair of runs against the White Sox, but the real concern tonight was another very rough outing from Shane Greene (6 GS, 34 IP, 5.56 ERA, 3.72 FIP) who couldn’t find the zone and couldn’t get the Sox off balance through 2.2 innings of very shaky work. It’s the third rocky start in a row for the Tigers hurler and his bad 3rd inning was the difference in the game. The Tigers got a run in the 1st thanks to the Gose base running experience and another in the 2nd when Alex Avila went opposite field for Melky-Cabrera-aided home run. The Tigers will try to even up the series on Wednesday with surprising standout Alfredo Simon (5 GS, 31.2 IP, 3.13 ERA, 3.29 FIP) on the mound.

The Moment: Avila hits a fielder aided opposite field homer.

Not perfect, but sufficient.

Tigers 6, Royals 4

Anibal Sanchez (6 GS, 37 IP, 5.11 ERA, 3.74 FIP) opened the afternoon with five perfect innings of baseball, and while the Tigers didn’t exactly play perfect baseball the entire way, they played well enough to win. Alex Avila cashed in four runs with a pair of hits and Cabrera backed him up with a two run blast to left field to push the Tigers lead to six runs. The Royals wore away with two hits and a sac fly in the 7th and then three hits and an RBI ground out in the 8th, but the lead held at 6-4 when Joakim Soria entered in the 9th. The win is their 17th of the season and allows them to split the series with the Royals before taking a day off and heading to see the Sox on Tuesday with Shane Greene (5 GS, 31.1 IP, 4.60 ERA, 3.46 FIP) on the bump.

The Moment: Avila clears the bases in the 4th.

Efficient.

Tigers 2, Royals 1

After a couple of losses to kick off the series, the Tigers turned to their ace and stopper, David Price (6 GS, 40 IP, 2.93 ERA, 3.04 FIP), who delivered a terrific performance en route to the team’s 16th victory of the season. The Tigers pushed across single runs in the 3rd and 5th, but the story of the day was the way Price moved through the Royals’ lineup. He pitched to no more than four batters in an inning, getting quick outs, and nailing down a complete game in relatively easy fashion. He lost the shutout when Cain took him deep in the 9th, but it was an otherwise excellent outing. The most interesting moment came in the 7th inning when Anthony Gose was called out for failing to retouch second base on a fly out. The umpires ruled that he slide into the base, got up, retouched the base, but stepped toward third on his way back to first, meaning that he had to touch second again. After reading the rules three times, there appears to be no grounds for the call. The challenge took three minutes and the umps still seemed to get it wrong. The Tigers shrugged it off without incident and finished the game, giving themselves a chance to split the series behind Anibal Sanchez (5 GS, 29.2 IP, 5.46 ERA, 4.08 FIP) on Sunday.

The Moment: Andrew Romine makes an over the shoulder running catch in the 9th.

Overly aggressive.

Royals 4, Tigers 1

On the first day of the second month of the season, the Tigers stumbled their way through the first inning and it was too much to overcome. Kyle Lobstein (4 GS, 25.1 IP, 3.91 ERA, 3.31 FIP) gave up a couple of hard luck hits and a couple of well earned ones, costing him three early runs. The youngster would settle down and actually pitch into the 8th inning allowing just one additional run before giving it off to Joba with one out in the 8th frame. The bats were the issue tonight, as they didn’t get a hit against the Royals until the 8th and had only been on base earlier due to a few walks, as they spent a lot of the night swinging and missing. They had their chances in the 4th and 8th to break the game open, but a heart-stopping Cabrera vs Herrera battled turned the tide for the Royals. They gave it another ride in the 9th, but couldn’t finish off Wade Davis. The Tigers will look to stop the bleeding behind the ace, David Price (5 GS, 31 IP, 3.48 ERA, 2.80 FIP), on Saturday evening.

The Moment: Martinez works a lengthy walk in the 4th.

The downside. 

Royals 8, Tigers 1

In the opening act of the battle for the AL Central, the Royals bested the Tigers by pummeling the Tigers pitching on Thursday evening. Danny Duffy was effective in his own right, but the Royals succeeded in jumping on the Tigers for three in the 3rd on a Hosmer HR and five in the 5th on all kinds of everything. Alfredo Simon (5 GS, 31.2 IP, 3.13 ERA, 3.16 FIP) twirled his first clunker in a Tigers uniform, showing some of the concerns we had about him when the season got underway. The bats weren’t able to do much regardless, waiting until the top of the 8th to push across their first and only run. With three left in the series, the club will turn to Kyle Lobstein (3 GS, 18 IP, 3.50 ERA, 3.39 FIP) on Friday.

The Moment: Iglesias triples in the 8th.

Pretty darn strange.

Tigers 10, Twins 7

So I have a job, and so that means I tend to not have my full attention placed on games that occur during the day. Normally, it’s easy enough to catch up, especially as my division often has the game on in the conference room. But forgive my confusion when looking at how this played out. It appears that Shane Greene (5 GS, 31.1 IP, 4.60 ERA, 3.46 FIP) had a super weird day, striking out a bunch, walking none, and getting otherwise obliterated. The Tigers were up 1-0, down 3-1, tied 3-3, down 7-3, and then rallied all the way back. Cabrera hit two dingers, Martinez hit one, and James McCann hit his first career HR, which was of the inside the park variety. I’ll just let that sit out there. Greene was bad, the bullpen was good, and McCann had an inside the park homer. I don’t even know what to tell you, but the good guys won and took the series. Alfredo Simon (4 GS, 27.1 IP, 1.65 ERA, 3.07 FIP) goes Thursday in KC.

The Moment: James McCann inside the park home run.

One that got away.

Twins 3, Tigers 2

The Tigers led for most of this game, but the Twins pushed across a couple of runs in the 7th inning against Anibal Sanchez (5 GS, 29.2 IP, 5.46 ERA, 3.99 FIP) to snatch the lead back. Gose plated Avila in the 3rd and the Twins matched that in the bottom half before Cespedes doubled Martinez across the plate in the 4th to give the Tigers another lead. The score sat at 2-1 for several innings as Sanchez looked good until the Twins got a little bit more contact going in the 7th when he allowed four hits and two runs, including the only extra base hit of the night. That 3-2 score would hold, as the Tigers let Pelfrey control the game and couldn’t do anything against Fien and Perkins in the final innings. The club will look to take the series Wednesday afternoon with Shane Greene (4 GS, 27 IP, 3.00 ERA, 2.97 FIP) on the bump.

The Moment: Martinez and Cespedes hit back to back doubles in the 4th.

Sloppy, but successful.

Tigers 5, Twins 4

When you have a chance to jump on Tommy Milone early, you take it. The Tigers got homers, a solo shot from Iglesias and a three run blast from Cespedes, in the 1st inning to get off to a 4-0 start, offering David Price some room to breathe. The Twins got a run back in the bottom half off David Price (5 GS, 31 IP, 3.48 ERA, 2.67 FIP) who was generally pretty good but allowed add on runs in the 5th and 7th allowing the Twins to make it a ballgame against a Tigers team that only put one more run up on the board. The bullpen didn’t look sharp ahead of Soria, but he hung on to the one run lead in the 9th and gave the Tigers their third win in a row. It was a much closer game that it should have been, however, not because of shaky bullpening, but because the Tigers gave away at least three outs on the bases. Iglesias got nailed at the plate on a sac fly attempt and Cabrera and JD Martinez got caught stealing in embarrassing fashion. The club will look to take the series Tuesday with Anibal Sanchez (4 GS, 22.2 IP, 5.96 ERA, 4.77 FIP) on the bump.

The Moment: Iglesias’ liner clears the left field fence in the 1st.

As advertised. 

Tigers 8, Indians 6

After dropping four straight earlier this week, the Tigers have now taken two straight from the Cleveland Indians thanks to a nice outing from Kyle Lobstein (3 GS, 18 IP, 3.50 ERA, 3.25 FIP) and a pretty good offensive showing. They got off to a good start thanks to three straight hits and a sac fly to nab two early runs. They added on in the 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 8th to keep the pressure going. Lobstein didn’t dominate, but he held the Indians to three runs in seven innings and while the bullpen allowed three runs, they managed not to go overboard. A big play from Iggy and a Miggy bomb made the final innings fun, setting up David Price (4 GS, 24.2 IP, 3.28 ERA, 2.87 FIP) for a trip to Target Field on Monday.

The Moment: Iglesias does a thing in the 9th inning.