The Detroit Tigers keep winning.
They’ve won 15 of their past 25 games, six of their past eight series and seven of nine games in May. The product on the field, more often than not, is a high-quality brand of baseball. The offense has maintained a selective aggressive approach, the starting pitchers are limiting teams to a few runs, the bullpen refuses to squander leads and the defense isn’t making costly errors.
“There’s a lot of positive stuff going on,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said, “and our guys are feeling it.”
“We’ve been playing really good baseball for three-plus weeks,” Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris said, speaking to reporters for the first time in the 2023 season.
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The positive all-around performance is beginning to reflect in the record — 17-19 — and the position in the standings: second place in the American League Central.
“Winning cures everything,” catcher Eric Haase said. “Clubhouse camaraderie is completely different. We’re all starting to jell, and everybody knows their place. I feel like we’re a good team. It’s really cool to see (young) guys stepping into their own, and it feels like a good team. The energy is high. We’re just playing so much better baseball, up and down, so that’s encouraging.”
Only one team in the AL Central — the Minnesota Twins (21-17) — boasts a .500 record, whereas the other five divisions have at least two teams at or above .500. Some divisions have three teams at or above .500, topped by the AL East, which has all five teams above .500: Tampa Bay Rays (30-9), Baltimore Orioles (24-13), Boston Red Sox (22-16), Toronto Blue Jays (21-16) and New York Yankees (21-18).
The Tigers, of course, have a 2-14 record against teams in the AL East.
The point is, the AL Central is a winnable division. It’s one of many reasons why Harris, a forward-thinking executive, agreed to become the Tigers’ president of baseball operations in September 2022.
“I think our at-bat quality is getting better,” Harris said. “We’re staying more disciplined to the zones that we feel like we handle, and I don’t think we’re chasing as much in recent weeks, which is helping us play some winning baseball in the last three weeks, which is good.”
Entering Friday, the Tigers trailed the Twins by three games in the Central. They’re ahead of the Cleveland Guardians (17-20), Chicago White Sox (13-26) and Kansas City Royals (12-27). The Tigers have won four of six games against the Guardians this season, including two of three earlier this week.
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Looking ahead, the Tigers play three games against the Seattle Mariners (Friday-Sunday), two games against the Pittsburgh Pirates (Thursday-Wednesday), three games against the Washington Nationals (May 19-21), three games against the Royals (May 22-24) and four games against the White Sox (May 25-28).
Those five teams have combined for a .421 winning percentage.
“Realizing you got a shot is a good feeling,” first baseman Spencer Torkelson said. “I think we need to keep doing what we’re doing. We don’t really look at the standings. There are like 120 games left. We’re just going to take it one day at a time.”
The window is open for the Tigers in the AL Central, considered the worst division in baseball, and based on the upcoming schedule, there’s an opportunity to make a significant move in the standings.
“We expected to play an aggressive brand of baseball,” Harris said. “We expected the pieces on this team to fit together better than their aggregate stat lines may suggest. When you watch this team play in recent weeks, I think it’s a combination of A.J. and the staff putting players in situations in which we think they can succeed, and it’s players getting their bodies and their minds right to come through in big spots. That’s what we were hoping for when we built the team this way.”
Tarik Skubal update
Left-hander Tarik Skubal, rehabbing from flexor tendon surgery, has thrown four bullpens and is scheduled to throw his fifth Saturday. The timetable for a rehab assignment remains unclear.
“I feel really good, really good,” Skubal said. “Everything is going as planned.”
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Skubal posted a 3.52 ERA with 32 walks and 117 strikeouts across 117⅔ innings in 21 starts last season. The 26-year-old landed on the injured list at the beginning of August and underwent left flexor tendon surgery in mid-August.
He has a 4.15 ERA with 318 strikeouts across 299 innings in his MLB career, which spans parts of three seasons.
Other injury updates
• Right-handed reliever Trey Wingenter has been on the injured list since April 22, retroactive to April 19, with right biceps tendinitis. He started a throwing program Friday, after a cortisone shot alleviated the inflammation in his throwing arm, and is expected to increase his volume throughout the next week.
• Outfielder Kerry Carpenter (right shoulder sprain) will be re-evaluated this weekend. If all goes well, he will resume a return-to-play progression. The Tigers placed him on the injured list April 29, retroactive to April 28.
Minor signing
The Tigers signed right-hander Tim Naughton to a minor-league contract.
The 27-year-old has been assigned to Double-A Erie.
Naughton, selected in the 34th round of the 2017 draft by the Orioles, posted a 1.93 ERA with one walk and six strikeouts over 4⅔ innings for the Gastonia Honey Hunters in the Atlantic League.
He pitched Thursday for Double-A Erie — his first appearance in the Tigers’ organization — and recorded one out in the sixth inning. He allowed three runs on two hits and one walk with one strikeout.
Naughton has a 4.35 ERA in his 142-game minor-league career.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.