Detroit Tigers manager AJ Hinch spoke to the public about an hour before Wednesday night’s game against the Guardians.
He said he felt for former GM Avila — who had been fired earlier in the afternoon — the man who gave him a chance to manage when he “was on the outside of baseball looking in” and can relate because he too has been on that side of being fired.
Still, he insisted the cloud over the team wouldn’t have any effect on his team’s play or his job — which is to find a way to win no matter what.
The Tigers were unable to do so, falling behind early and never finding a way to claw back.
Despite the Tigers’ pitching retiring the final 20 Cleveland hitters, the offense couldn’t capitalize — particularly in two key spots with runners on the corners and no outs in the fifth and bases-loaded and one-out in the eighth — and lost 3 -2 to fall to a season low 26-games below .500, 43-69 on the season.
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Hutchison hit hard, limits damage
Tigers starter Drew Hutchison was hit hard out of the gate, giving up a lead off triple when Steven Kwan ripped a ball to right field.
Victor Reyes couldn’t grab it on a dive and it rolled to the wall, before Tigers killer Jose Ramirez plated him two batters later with an RBI single.
The Guardians kept adding in the second, stringing four singles and a walk together in the inning to plate two more and go up by three runs.
They’d get two more runners on in the third inning, but Hutchison was able to work out of the jam after allowing eight hits through the game’s first 15 batters.
At that point it looked like it would be a short night for the Tigers’ starter who’d been designated for assignment twice this season and three times in the past year. Eight of the balls that were put in play were hit 93.7 mph or harder (a “hard hit” is 95 mph), but Hutichison would settle in.
From the middle of the third through the end of the fifth, he retired eight straight batters including three strikeouts to end his night.
Offense tries to fight back
The Tigers, meanwhile, were lifeless early on. They went down in order in each of the first three innings, hitting the ball out of the infield just twice.
But they’d get to Guardians starter Aaron Civale, who entered sporting a 6.09 ERA, the second time through the order.
Riley Greene led off the inning with a double, then after a Reyes strikeout, Baez was hit by a pitch and gave Civale a long stare-down before slowly making his way to first base.
Harold Castro followed by working the count full and ripping the 3-2 pitch into right field to plate the Tigers’ first run. Eric Haase kept the line moving, ripping a double at 107.5 mph to plate Baez, move Castro to third and trim the deficit to one.
That brought up rookie Kerry Carpenter, making his MLB debut in front of dozens of family and friends. After popping out to third base in his first at bat, Carpenter struck out looking on a curveball in his second.
Jeimer Candelario flew out to right field to end the inning.
The offense would get right back to it in the fifth. Jonathan Schoop smoked a leadoff double down the left field line (108 mph), to bring up Akil Badoo.
After failing to bunt him over twice, the left-fielder was forced to swing away, and he laid down the equivalent of a perfect bunt — a dribbler down the third base line putting runners on the corners with no outs.
That brought up Greene, who hit a missile (106.2 mph) on the ground, but it was right at Andres Gimenez. The second baseman fired home and nabbed Schoop at the plate by a full step.
After a Reyes strikeout, Baez hit the ball even harder, 107.9 mph with a .630 expected batting average, but it was right at Amed Rosario, who flipped to second for the force out to end the inning.
Bullpen flawless again
For all of the Tigers flaws this year, the bullpen simply hasn’t been one of them.
Alex Lange was the first man out of the pen, and picked up where Hutchison left off. He needed just 11 pitches (seven strikes) to retire the Guardians in order including strikeouts of Nolan Jones and rookie Will Benson — who got his first career hit in the second inning with an RBI single — on sliders.
11 retired in a row.
Next, was Joe Jimenez, who was equally efficient thanks to some slick defense.
After forcing a soft groundout to lead off the inning, Steven Kwan hit a line drive to centerfield off Jimenez. Riley Greene paused for a moment, before running in and laying out to make the diving grab.
Rosairo struck out to end the inning; 14 retired in a row.
In the eighth, it was Andrew Chafin. The lefty got the dangerous Ramirez to groundout on one pitch to third, Josh Naylor to hit a chopper to second and Gimenez to wave through a fastball to end the frame.
17 in a row.
In stepped Gregory Soto in the ninth, who didn’t miss a beat. He struck out pinch hitter Oscar Gonzalez on three pitches, got the next pinch hitter Owen Miller to ground out to second before Hedges lined out to left field.
Tigers pitching retired the final 20 batters they faced.
Offense can’t break through
The threat in the fifth wouldn’t be their last.
After going down in order in the sixth and seventh innings with four strikeouts, Riley Greene led off the eighth inning with a single up the box.
On the next pitch, Reyes appeared to be hit on the hand, but the call on the field was it hit the knob of the bat, foul ball. Hinch challenged and the call was quickly overturned, two on.
Baez stepped to the plate and after laying off a 2-2 curveball in the dirt, he chased a fastball at the chest for a strikeout. Castro wasted no time in his at-bat, singling to right on the first pitch he saw to load the bases for Haase.
After falling behind 0-2 in the count, Haase would work it full. He fouled off four pitches and took three balls before he swung through a 96 mph fastball on the final pitch of the at bat.
That brought up the rookie Carpenter, who struck out for the third time on the day, as he finished his debut 0-for-4.
After Candelario and Schoop struck out to start the ninth, Baddoo reached on another infield single and advanced to second when the throw went into the Guardians dugout.
Greene stepped to the plate and grounded out to first to end the game.
Contact Tony Garcia at [email protected]. Follow him on twitter at @realtonygarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers’ solid pitching, offense falls short in 3-2 loss