The Detroit Tigers scored nine runs Thursday afternoon, on 14 hits and four walks. For the third consecutive game, the team with the worst record in baseball put together formidable at-bats and rallied multiple times to keep the game competitive.
But there was plenty not to like during the three-game series against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. The Tigers (9-23) put it all on display in the finale, a devastating 12-9 loss. Detroit has a 3-17 record in the past 20 games.
“I mean, we just didn’t complete the plays,” manager AJ Hinch said.
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For the second time in the series, the starting pitcher — this time, Spencer Turnbull — trailed in the first inning. He gave up four runs (two earned) on seven runs, zero walks and two hit-by-pitches. At least on Thursday, unlike Michael Fulmer’s start Tuesday, Turnbull made it three innings, throwing 80 pitches. (Casey Mize, the outlier, tossed six innings of one-run ball Wednesday.)
The Tigers also made errors early and late in the game. The team’s only win against the AL’s other Sox, which came April 27 in Chicago, featured five errors. On Thursday, the Tigers allowed seven unearned runs on four errors — two each from third baseman Jeimer Candelario and shortstop Niko Goodrum.
The Red Sox were generous to the Tigers as well, including two errors from Rafael Devers, but the Tigers finally surrendered the lead for good in a four-run bottom of the eighth.
“In a game like this, that was all over the map and there were a lot of different things going on, any extra opportunity you give always feels like it’s going to come back to bite you a little bit,” Hinch said.
Both Candelario and Goodrum had errors in the Tigers’ final turn in the field. Goodrum opened with a fielding error on a roller from leadoff hitter Rafael Devers. Once Devers had come around to tie the game 9-9, with two outs, Candelario made his mistake.
With runners on first and third and Gregory Soto freshly in from the bullpen, Boston’s Franchy Cordero bounced the ball weakly to third. Candelario charged the ball, moving toward home plate. At the same time, Soto darted toward the third-base line. When Soto crossed in front of him, Candelario dropped the ball with two outs. Boston’s Christian Arroyo scored for a 10-9 lead and the Red Sox never looked back.
“As a pitcher, your reaction off the ball is going to be pretty quick, especially if it’s soft contact and you can get to it,” Hinch said about Soto. “That one, I think the moment got a little bit to him, where it was so big. He got off the mound super quick, may not have known where Jeimer was. I’m not sure if they communicated back and forth, but it obviously created some traffic that should’ve been a relatively easy play for Jeimer.”
Soto’s struggle was yet another symptom of the Tigers’ ailing bullpen, which entered Thursday with a 6.75 ERA, worst in the majors. After Turnbull departed, all five relievers allowed runs: Tyler Alexander, Buck Farmer, Kyle Funkhouser, Alex Lange and Soto.
Funkhouser pitched well in his first appearance this season, but the others had trouble, including Farmer, who didn’t record an out. Still, the bullpen can blame the gloves slightly for Thursday: Of eight runs allowed in relief, only three were earned.
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Meanwhile, the Tigers picked things up offensively, as they did throughout the series: Against the Red Sox, they went 35-for-119 (.294) with 22 runs, 11 walks and 34 strikeouts. The Tigers weren’t overly reliant on homers, either; with just two home runs, they put up better at-bats all around.
Nearly every player in the lineup contributed in some way offensively this series. (Miguel Cabrera, in an 0-for-27 slump with 14 strikeouts and hitting .098 overall, didn’t play Thursday.)
Even without Cabrera, the Tigers were aggressive at the plate and on the basepaths. Thursday brought two more steals, for a total of seven in the series.
“I know we walk out of here losing two out of three, but our bats started to come alive,” Hinch said. “Our aggressiveness showed. Our whole offensive profile was much better as the series went along. That is encouraging. We can do some things offensively if we give ourselves a chance inside the strike zone.”
Evan Petzold is a sports reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.