The good news? The Detroit Tigers snapped an 18 game streak without recording double digit hits (10), and they scored their second highest amount of runs this season (7).
The bad news? They still lost to the Boston Red Sox, 11-7.
Despite their long overdue offensive outburst, they came up short in key at bats with hittable pitches late in the contest. They twice failed to score with runners on third and less than two outs in the sixth and seventh. Oh and Michael Fulmer got destroyed and couldn’t make it out of the first inning. A throwing error on a double play opportunity started a chain reaction that led to Fulmer being lifted with four runs already in, and 33 pitches thrown, leaving Alex Lange to punch out Bobby Dalbec to avoid any further carnage. This only delayed further carnage, however, as the bullpen continued its dumpster fire stylings to effectively decide the game from the start.
But hey, the bats woke up! Lets talk more about that. The Tigers scored two runs thanks to a barrage of singles from the bottom of the order. Later, after the Red Sox had pulled away to a comfortable 7-2 lead, Robbie Grossman would double to the weird pizza slice part of the Fenway outfield to bring in Victor Reyes. Grossman and Reyes ultimately collected three hits apiece on the night.
Things really got going in the 6th inning though. The Red Sox had rebuilt their five run lead and had sent Nick Pivetta to the clubhouse for a pre win snack—I’m guessing chicken wings, maybe a beer or two—when the Tigers pounced on Austin Brice for FOUR runs! It started with a single from Niko Goodrum, and then after a hit-by-pitch to Willi Castro, JaCoby Jones put a charge into one down the left field line and over the green monster for a three-run home run. Reyes followed with a double, and Grossman followed with a single off new pitcher Matt Andriese to score Reyes. Suddenly the Tigers were within three of tying and against all odds, maybe coming back and winning this game. And you know what? That’s a good feeling to end this on.
Yup, lets just end on that good feeling right there in the sixth inning. That’s almost a complete game this year if it were a double header. I see no reason to talk about how the Tigers would put runners on third three times after this and fail to score. We don’t need to mention Miguel Cabrera bouncing into an inning ending double play with the bases loaded. That’s par for the season thus far. Lets just focus on this outburst of run scoring and carry that good thought into tomorrow night. Hopefully Casey Mize can make it count for something.