After a bleak four-game sweep against the Guardians to start the week, the Tigers left home and headed to Baltimore, asking themselves one important question: if two teams who just got swept by their league opponents face off against each other, which team is most likely to lose? I’m glad you asked. The Tigers and Orioles both presently find themselves at the bottom of their respective divisions. At the moment, the Orioles have the better record, by a hair, with 21-29 vs. the Tigers’ 20-31. The Orioles also
tip the scales slightly with their home record being 12-12 vs. the Tigers’ away record being a very bad 7-19. The Tigers are also 1-9 in their last 10 games as opposed to the Orioles’ 4-6. So most of the numbers, unfortunately, favor the Orioles here. However, if we’re looking at pure dumb luck and who needs their losing streak busted the most, then it’s all the Tigers. The pitching matchup will see Jack Flaherty for the Tigers (0-5 record) against Keegan Akin (0-0 record with a 13.5 ERA), who would serve the Opener role for a bullpen game. If you’re curious, because I was, the longest scoreless game in MLB history was in 1968 between the Mets and the Astros. It went 24 innings and lasted over 6 hours. No reason for me sharing that fact, just thought it was interesting.
Thankfully, the Tigers won’t need to worry about breaking that scoreless inning streak just yet, because Kevin McGonigle got the first inning going with a solo home run on the very first pitch of the game. The next three batters were out in order, but hey, big boom to start the game? We’ll take it.
In the home half, Gunnar Henderson got a one-out double, but two outs followed to keep the threat at bay.
Akin was done after the first inning, making way for Chris Bassitt who would likely be doing the long-haul for the game. Bassitt fared better against the lineup, getting the Tigers out in order. The O’s continued to try to chip away against Flaherty, as Leody Taveras got a one-out double in the home half. But as with the first inning, Jack was able to pitch out of the jam.
In the top of the third, Gage Workman doubled. Then Hao-Yu Lee doubled right behind him to score the Tigers’ second run of the game. Two outs followed, along with a swap of Jahmai Jones being replaced by Colt Keith, and the game headed to the home half with the Tigers up by 2. Give me 3 more and I’ll start to feel comfortable.
Jackson Holliday singled to start the bottom of the inning. Henderson reached on a fielder’s choice but thanks to a fielding error by McGonigle, both runners remained safely on base. With two outs, Pete Alonso did what Pete Alonso gets paid to do and he homered, putting the Orioles in the lead.
Riley Greene started the fourth inning with a single, followed by a ground-rule double from Spencer Torkelson to put two runners in scoring position. Zach McKinstry reached on a fielder’s choice that allowed Riley Greene to score despite Alonso’s efforts, tying the game, and leaving two baserunners on.
Then, with two outs, Lee singled to score Torkelson, putting the Tigers back in the lead.
In the home half, Taveras and Colton Cowser hit back-to-back singles to start the inning. Taveras was then able to score on a balk, because that’s absolutely something that would happen to the Tigers this season, and the game was once again tied. Then, with one out, Holliday homered. Taylor Ward then singled. That was rightly it for Flaherty, who was replaced by Brant Hurter. Flaherty’s final line for the game was 3.1 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, 2 HR on 78 pitches, and, well, it was bad. With two outs, Adley Rutschman doubled, then Pete Alonso was intentionally walked to load the bases. Hurter did manage to pitch out of the jam, though, so the gambit paid off and the inning was over. But the Orioles were now up 6-4.
The Tigers went 1-2-3 in the top of the fifth. In the home half, with two outs, Connor Seabold came in after Hurter appeared to slip on his delivery and hurt himself. Seabold gave up a single to Coby Mayo but he did get the final out of the inning.
In the sixth, with one out, Wenceel Perez doubled. That was all she wrote for Bassitt who was replaced by Rico Garcia. He got the last two outs of the inning. In the home half Henderson got a one-out single, followed by a Rutschman single. Then Alonso hit a sac fly to score Henderson. Kyle Finnegan came in out of the Tigers’ pen to get the final out of the inning.
Yennier Cano was the new Orioles’ pitcher for the seventh and he got the Tigers out in order. In the bottom of the inning, Taveras got a leadoff single, but was then eliminated in a double play off the bat of Tyler O’Neill. Blaze Alexander doubled, followed by a walk to Holliday. The Tigers did work their way out of another potential jam, though, and no runs scored.
The Orioles turned things over to Tyler Wells in the eighth, and he got the Tigers three-up, three-down. In the home half, Enmanuel De Jesus came in and gave up a single to Henderson. He turned things around, though, and got the next three batters out in order.
The Tigers were down to their last chance in the top of the ninth. They’d be doing it against Anthony Nunez, and they went 1-2-3 to end the game and extend their losing streak.
