The Tigers headed to Miami for a weekend series against the Marlins. It was a late getaway day yesterday, and perhaps we can blame that for what we saw unfold in tonight’s game. Either that or someone has placed a curse on the team and it’s all coming to the fore now. Let’s hope that’s not the case. The Tigers were relying on Tarik Skubal as their starter against Sandy Alcantara for the Marlins.
The Tigers collected a two-out single from Kerry Carpenter in the first, but he’d be their only baserunner.
In the home half, Agustin Ramirez got a solo home run with one out, putting the Marlins on the board first. Two outs followed, but the Miami club had drawn first blood.
With two outs in the second, there was a pretty scary moment for the Tigers as a foul tip rebounded up to hit Javier Baez in the face, knocking his helmet off and knocking him to the ground. He was taken off the field on his own feet, but there was a nasty-looking knot on his forehead afterwards. Trey Sweeney came in to finish the at-bat.
Heriberto Hernandez opened the home half of the inning with another solo homer for the Marlins. Erik Wagaman then doubled. With one out, Maximo Acosta was hit by a pitch, then a Javier Sanoja force out eliminated Acosta, but scored Wagaman. At the end of the second, the Marlins were up 3-0.
The Tigers went 1-2-3 in the top of the third, the Marlins did the same in the bottom of the inning.
With two outs in the fourth, Riley Greene homered to finally get the Tigers on the board.
Hernandez got a leadoff single in the bottom of the fourth. After one out, things took another bad turn for the Tigers and Tarik Skubal left the game with an undetermined discomfort, and hopefully not an injury, though based on his response it doesn’t look great.
Rafael Montero replaced Skubal, and Acosta got a one-out single. Sanoja then doubled, scoring two more runs to give the Marlins a 5-1 lead at the end of four, with the Tigers’ ace now out of the game.
It was another 1-2-3 for the Tigers in the fifth, but thankfully, the Marlins returned the favor in the home half.
In the sixth, the Tigers went out in order. Between innings, there was an update on Skubal’s condition:
Chris Paddack came into the game and gave up a leadoff walk to Hernandez. Wagaman then singled. Then, with still no outs in the inning, Joey Wiemer homered to bring in three more runs. Paddack finally got the three outs he needed to end the inning, but the Tigers were now 8-1 in the hole.
Kerry Carpenter got the seventh started with a single, followed by a Riley Greene double. Two outs followed, then Carpenter was able to score on a passed ball.
In the home half, the Marlins were three-up, three-down.
The night was done for Alcantara in the eighth, replaced by Cade Gibson. With one out, Jake Rogers was hit by a pitch. One out later Rogers advanced to second on a wild pitch. Gleyber Torres then walked, but neither baserunner came home. The Marlins went 1-2-3 in the home half.
George Soriano came in for the ninth. Spencer Torkelson got a one-out walk, but there was no rally, and the Tigers dopped game one of the series, and potentially lost two players with two weeks left until the postseason.
