DENVER — A five-run second inning doomed the Detroit Tigers.
Right-hander Michael Lorenzen allowed five singles to the Colorado Rockies, including a two-run single to ex-Tiger Harold Castro, before recording an out in the second inning. He avoided trouble for most of his five-inning start, but a stretch of six batters in the early going Friday made the difference.
The Tigers lost, 8-5, to the Rockies in the series opener at Coors Field, playing in front of 47,239 fans.
“I thought I threw the ball really good and had really good stuff,” Lorenzen said. “Really good but not getting results isn’t good enough. I got to figure out how to get results. The object of the game is to win, and I need to keep the team in a position to be able to do that.”
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Although the Tigers (35-46) collected nine hits, the offense failed to capitalize with runners in scoring position, finishing 1-for-7 in those situations. Two runners were stranded in both the first and fourth innings against left-hander Austin Gomber, who entered Friday with a 7.01 ERA in 16 starts.
The Rockies, unlike the Tigers, took advantage of their opportunity in the second inning.
“A loss is a loss, but I think you got to do your part on your side of the ball if you expect the good fortune to go your way,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “We didn’t do enough to win the game. They did.”
Six consecutive batters reached safely to open the second with singles from C.J. Cron, Nolan Jones, Ezequiel Tovar, Castro and Jurickson Profar. Brenton Doyle put down a sacrifice bunt that didn’t result in any outs to load the bases before Profar’s single.
Castro, who played for the Tigers from 2018-22, drove in two runs with his single, while Profar drove in two runs with his single. The Rockies increased their lead to 5-0 when Kris Bryant grounded into a double play.
Lorenzen allowed five runs on seven hits and one walk with four strikeouts across five innings, throwing 63 of 95 pitches for strikes. He threw his slider 33 times, more than any other pitch, but the Rockies whiffed just twice on 16 swings.
He has a 6.28 ERA in his past five starts.
“I need to generate more swing and misses,” said Lorenzen, who got nine whiffs on 49 swings for a 18.4% swing-and-miss rate. “I just have to in order to get better, improve and keep the team in the game. Otherwise, it’s going to be a good start, and then the next start is bad luck. I can’t rely on luck. I have to get better and put our team in a better position to win.”
In the sixth inning, Tovar launched a three-run home run off a first-pitch splitter from left-handed reliever Chasen Shreve. The inning started with a leadoff walk from Cron and a single from Jones.
The homer put the Rockies ahead, 8-3.
Andy Ibáñez hit a two-run home run to left field in the eighth inning, cutting the Tigers’ deficit to 8-5.
Climbing the mountains
Gomber, the Rockies’ starter, came into Friday’s outing with a National League-leading 19 home runs allowed in 77 innings.
The Tigers put a small dent into the Rockies’ lead, cutting the deficit to 5-1, when Spencer Torkelson grounded out in the third inning. But Jake Marisnick deserves credit, in more ways than one, for the first run.
Marisnick opened the inning with a single. He stole second base (on Matt Vierling’s strikeout) and advanced to third base on a throwing error at second by catcher Elias Diaz. His instincts on the bases opened the door for Torkelson to drive him in.
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The fourth inning seemed promising for the Tigers.
Four straight batters reached safely: Javier Báez (single), Jake Rogers (single), Miguel Cabrera (single) and Zach McKinstry (walk). Cabrera’s single made it 5-2, and a wild pitch by Gomber made it 5-3.
“Their run-scoring play, they continued to tack on base runners on the run-scoring plays,” Hinch said. “Our run-scoring plays were outs or when Andy hit the home run. It just felt like they were continually putting guys on base while they were getting run-scoring hits.”
The missed opportunities
After the two runs in the fourth inning, McKinstry drew his walk to put runners on first and second base with nobody out. The Tigers were in a position to crush Gomber, but instead, the next three batters were sent down in order.
Zack Short flew out to center field.
Marisnick struck out swinging.
Vierling grounded out.
“He can mix and match and throw different pitches,” Hinch said of Gomber. “It looked like we had a really hard time with his breaking ball. … I think we had a hard time putting a lot of pressure on him to throw a lot of pitches.”
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The Tigers also missed out on runs in the first inning, coming up empty, when Báez and Rogers struck out swinging. The back-to-back strikeouts, both on breaking balls, stranded runners on the corners.
Gomber allowed three runs (two earned runs) on six hits and one walk with seven strikeouts across seven innings, throwing 60 of 84 pitches for strikes. He generated 10 whiffs with two fastballs, four sliders, two knuckle curves and two changeups.
His ERA dropped to 6.64 through 17 starts.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.