LOS ANGELES — Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch marched to the pitcher’s mound with one out in the third inning. He reached out and took the ball from left-hander Tyler Alexander.
Alexander, for the third consecutive start, failed to complete four innings.
“I think A.J. was tired of watching me give up runs,” Alexander said. “And I was, too. I didn’t have a say in that.”
He gave up four runs, three of them on a pair of home runs, and was stopped short of finishing the third frame in Friday’s 5-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first of three games at Dodger Stadium.
The Tigers (6-13) have lost six games in a row.
“We’re not helpless,” Hinch said. “We got beat, but we’re not helpless. We got a lot of games. We got a lot to do. You start feeling helpless after 19 games, you got to find a new job.”
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Right-handed reliever Wily Peralta replaced Alexander. He struck out Justin Turner — who homered off Alexander in the first inning — with a slider, the first of two outs to escape further damage in the third.
Due to Alexander’s short start, the Tigers’ bullpen had to record the final 17 outs of the game. To do so, Hinch turned to Peralta, right-hander Will Vest, righty Alex Lange and left-hander Andrew Chafin.
Alexander has an 8.76 ERA in four starts.
“It’s not a good stretch for him,” Hinch said.
“Pretty frustrating,” Alexander said.
Peralta, who started 18 of 19 games last season, flipped the momentum. He completed 1⅔ innings on 47 pitches (30 strikes), recording two swings and misses and two called strikes with his 10 sliders.
One unearned run scored off Peralta due to an error by Javier Báez.
The error started with a single from Mookie Betts. The ball traveled past Jeimer Candelario, whose diving effort blocked Báez’s view. But since the ball deflected off Báez, the 2020 Gold Glove winner was charged with the error.
And the error put the Dodgers ahead 5-1.
“It looked like Candy got in his way,” Hinch said.
Vest took over for Peralta and tossed two scoreless innings, throwing 30 pitches (20 strikes) and logging four strikeouts. He had four swings and misses with his 11 sliders and pumped in his fastball at 94.8 mph.
Fast start in L.A.
The Dodgers wasted no time getting on the scoreboard.
With two outs in the first inning, Turner blasted a two-run home run to left field on Alexander’s 0-2 four-seam fastball. The home run also plated Freddie Freeman, drawing an eight-pitch walk with one out.
Freeman stole second base to apply pressure; Alexander wasn’t paying attention to him. It was his second stolen base this season and the 55th of his 13-year MLB career.
“I think he didn’t execute quite like he needed to,” Hinch said. “His pitch selection got him into some trouble with three fastballs in a row to Turner. And then they played exceptional defense.”
With two outs in the second, Chris Taylor ambushed Alexander’s first-pitch cutter for a solo home run over the wall in left-center. All three of Alexander’s home runs allowed this season have occurred with two outs.
Alexander conceded four runs on three hits and two walks with one strikeout across 2⅓ innings. He tossed 30 of 47 pitches for strikes, generating three swings and misses and 11 called strikes.
He used 17 sinkers (36%), 10 sliders (21%), eight four-seam fastballs (17%), six cutters (13%) and six changeups (13%).
“I thought I threw the ball well for the short time I was out there,” Alexander said. “I had a good slider. I didn’t throw too many cutters. My fastball location was OK. I threw some good changeups, too. They put some good swings on some good pitches.”
The other T.A.
Opposing the Tigers’ Alexander was Dodgers left-hander Tyler Anderson. The Tigers showed interest in Anderson — a free agent this past offseason — but backed off their pursuit coming out of MLB’s lockout.
In March, Anderson signed a one-year, $8 million contract with the Dodgers. Facing the Tigers in his second start (fourth game), Anderson fired five innings of one-run ball with three strikeouts.
“We didn’t put two good at-bats together, or positive-result at-bats together, except for Grossman to Báez,” Hinch said. “We had a hard time piecing together positive at-bat after positive at-bat, which is attributed to their pitching and a little bit of our chase.”
The Tigers scored their lone run in the third inning.
Tucker Barnhart singled to center field with one out, and Robbie Grossman worked a five-pitch walk with two outs. Báez plated Barnhart, cutting the Tigers’ deficit to 3-1, with a two-strike single to center on Anderson’s four-seam fastball.
Detroit finished with one run on six hits and one walk. Barnhart and Báez had two-hit performances, while Austin Meadows and Spencer Torkelson each produced one hit.
The Dodgers’ bullpen tossed four scoreless innings.
“It’s a tough stretch for us,” Hinch said. “It’s not a lot of fun right now. We’ll keep at it.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.