Detroit — It’s not time for panic, certainly. Not with six months and 153 games left to play. But after getting swept by the Boston Red Sox in the first home series of the season, losing a dispiriting finale 4-1 on Sunday to fall to 2-7, it might be time for some frank assessment.
Which Tigers’ manager AJ Hinch provided.
“We’re not a good first-pitch strike pitching staff right now and we’re not missing a ton of bats,” he said. “We’re not getting into leverage counts. If you do that against teams that can roll their lineup to some pretty good hitters, you are going to find yourself behind.”
BOX SCORE: Red Sox 4, Tigers 1
In the three-game series, Tigers’ pitchers walked 15 batters and nine of those batters scored. Two of the Red Sox runs Sunday were scored by walked runners.
At this point, nine games into the season, they might settle for simply commanding it.
And conversely, the Tigers’ hitters continue to get themselves out by chasing pitches outside of the strike zone.
“We keep fighting,” Hinch said. “But we still continue to chase a bunch and that comes back to haunt you a little bit when you have guys on base and you get a little anxious and swing outside the zone.”
Example one: Down 2-1 in the bottom of the eighth, Akil Baddoo and Riley Greene singled with one out. Javier Báez swung at the first pitch from right-handed reliever Chris Martin, a pitch that was up and in and well off the plate, and grounded weakly to first.
Martin got Kerry Carpenter to roll out to first base to end the inning, swinging at a 2-2 cutter that was again up and in and out of the zone.
Example two: Down 4-1 in the ninth, the Tigers loaded the bases against closer Kenley Jansen with one out. But Zach McKinstry popped to shallow left chasing a 2-2 cutter at the top of the zone and Baddoo, who had a pair of hits, struck out on three pitches, the last a fastball above the zone.
“All in all, we hung in for nine innings in all three games,” Hinch said. “But we have to continue to hone in on contact and moving the ball into play because we’re swinging at pitches inside the zone and not swinging dangerously outside the strike zone.”
The Tigers were in a bind entering the game in terms of their bullpen depth. Having used long relievers Garrett Hill and Tyler Alexander for three-plus innings in Saturday’s loss, rookie Mason Englert was the lone bulk reliever available.
That put the onus on veteran lefty Matthew Boyd to get as deep into the game as he could, understanding that his pitch-count is being closely monitored early in the season. Coming off flexor tendon surgery, he only pitched 13.1 innings a year ago.
A 26-pitch first inning wasn’t the start the Tigers or Boyd was looking for. Nor was a walk an inning through the first four innings.
“Inconsistent,” was Hinch’s description for Boyd’s performance. “We didn’t control the strike zone again and first-pitch strikes were down. Two of the three walks scored. But he was effective. I think he had some of the best stuff we’ve seen through spring and in the short time this season.
“But the inconsistency of rolling the lineup way too many times led to giving them extra opportunities and way too many guys on base.”
Still, Boyd ended up going 4.2 innings and left a 2-1 game with two on and two out in the fifth. Right-hander Jason Foley came on to get the red-hot Adam Duvall to end the inning — a huge out at the time.
“It could’ve been a lot better,” said Boyd, who walked four and struck out four. “There was a lot of opportunity for me personally to get deeper in that game, to get ahead in counts. I had spurts where I lost the rhythm in my delivery and then I was rolling after that.
“I have to manage those incidents and be in a situation where I eliminate those walks so when that Duvall situation happens, it’s in the seventh inning, not the fifth.”
A couple of first-pitch doubles accounted for the runs against Boyd. After he walked Kiké Hernandez on four pitches in the second inning, left-handed hitting Triston Casas spanked a first-pitch sinker (89 mph) into the right-field corner, bringing Hernandez all the way around.
Then in the fifth, Connor Wong hit another first-pitch sinker (90 mph) for a double. He scored on a single by Rob Refsnyder.
But, especially with his four-seam fastball, slider and changeup, Boyd was inducing soft contact. The average exit velocity on the 14 balls the Red Sox put in play against him was a mild 86.8 mph.
“I am excited where my stuff is when it’s flowing,” Boyd said. “That part is encouraging, knowing when that’s happening I’ll be able to make those adjustments quicker and I will be able to give my team a better chance to win.”
The Red Sox’ third run came in the seventh off right-hander Alex Lange. A one-out walk to Refsnyder started it. He was singled to third by Rafael Devers and then tagged and scored on a shallow fly ball to right field by Justin Turner.
Refsnyder challenged the arm of right-fielder Carpenter. Carpenter made a strong and accurate one-hop throw to the plate that beat Refsnyder, but catcher Eric Haase couldn’t secure the ball as he hastened to make the tag.
“We all have things we can work on,” Boyd said of the team’s slow start. “As fast as the 2-7 happened, it could be 7-2, as well. You always realize you are a game away. You just have to make that adjustment and put in the work. We have a good group of guys to do that and we’ve got great leadership to do that.
“And we plan on doing it.”
The Tigers in the three seasons under Hinch have been especially good at dumping negative baggage, not carrying it into the next game or next series — something they already demonstrated taking two of three in Houston after being swept by the Rays.
“We don’t spend a lot of time talking about what’s happened in the rear-view mirror,” he said. “It’s our reality. That’s why they keep the standings. But we spend a ton of time and focus on what we’re doing that day. It has nothing to do with the previous game.
“We can’t afford to drag that negative s— into the next day.”
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter@cmccosky
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