How Low Can They Go? Tigers Drop Fourth Straight in 4-3 Loss to Cleveland

· Yahoo Sports

If the Tigers were in a limbo contest, they’d be atop the leaderboard as they continue sinking lower into the abyss.

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The depleted Detroit Tigers fell once again to the rival Cleveland Guardians, as their once-promising season — one that had everyone believing they were all in — has seemingly vanished into thin air like Thanos snapping away any hope of momentum, modern-day references and wins included.

The Tigers dropped to 20-29 on the season, now sitting 7.5 games behind Cleveland in the division. Tuesday’s loss marked their fourth straight defeat and their 12th loss in the last 14 games — all since the news broke that Tarik Skubal would be sidelined.

The good news? The updates surrounding Skubal continue getting more optimistic by the day, especially now that he’s throwing again.

But this article isn’t about the best pitcher in the world.

Instead, it’s about an injury-riddled Tigers team that can’t seem to escape a slump deep enough to make even the strongest man curl up and cry.

Still, as the season approaches the one-third mark, there remains at least a little hope in the air — even if it smells a bit like an alley in Greektown.

All Detroit needed to do was win the series against Cleveland and maybe, just maybe, the turnaround could begin. With this being a four-game series, Tuesday felt like a must-have game. Unfortunately for the Tigers, Brayan Rocchio put the Guardians ahead 4-3 in the top of the seventh inning, and Cleveland’s bullpen took care of the rest from there. Even the 'Shirtless Mob' couldn't rally the team to a win.

Now, the Tigers will look to at least split the series, claw back within 5.5 games and hopefully find a little sunlight breaking through the storm clouds.

To do that, however, they’ll need to remind themselves how badly they need to hit the baseball.

That issue has nothing to do with Skubal, yet somehow it feels like the offense has been affected the most by his absence. The Tigers are averaging just 2.25 runs per game over their last eight contests, 2.5 runs per game over their last 14 and a brutal 1.75 runs per game during this current four-game losing streak.

In fact, their three runs Tuesday night were the most Detroit has scored since last Friday’s 3-2 win over Toronto.

Offensively, the only real thing to write home about was another Tork-bomb in the second inning. Spencer Torkelson crushed a ball to center field, bringing Riley Greene home with him and giving Detroit a 2-1 lead at the time.

Greene would score again in the bottom of the fourth inning to put the Tigers back in front, this time by a 3-2 margin.

Sadly, the pitching staff couldn’t hold the line.

Tyler Holton, who still appears to be searching for the confident aggression he showed a few seasons ago, surrendered the game-winning run and picked up his third loss of the year, dropping to 0-3 on the season.

So where exactly are the Tigers right now?

Down, but not out.

In 2024 the Tigers were seven games below .500 before the 0.2% run. Today they sit nine games below.

Their backs may be breaking from how low they’ve bent during this brutal stretch, but brighter days should still be ahead. Detroit is trying to maneuver through a season where Tarik Skubal, Justin Verlander, Jackson Jobe, Troy Melton and Reese Olson have all landed on the injured list — essentially an entire rotation’s worth of arms. Casey Mize was also on the IL before returning just a few days ago.

Meanwhile, the lineup continues offering little support, and the Tigers are getting dangerously close to searching for some sort of witchcraft to pull themselves back into the race.

For now, though, the Tigers will try to be goldfish.

Forget the losing streak. Forget the frustration. Forget how ugly the last two weeks have been.

Instead, they’ll head into Wednesday night’s 6:40 p.m. EST matchup looking to take Game 3 and start a streak of their own by finally ending this one.

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