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Detroit Tigers' swoon means it's shaping up as another long summer of losing baseball
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- Detroit Tigers' swoon means it's shaping up as another long summer of losing baseball
Welcome to the first day of summer: June 20, 2024.
The Detroit Tigers are six games below .500, with a 34-40 record. They're also 12½ games behind the first-place Cleveland Guardians in the American League Central and 6½ games back of the final AL wild-card spot. The Tigers own a 29-40 record — that's a 68-win pace over a full season — since their 5-0 start to the season.
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The latest swoon? They haven't won a series since the beginning of June, losing four in a row with the latest a sweep by the Atlanta Braves .
Unless something changes, it's going to be another long summer of losing baseball. The Tigers haven't made the postseason in nine seasons, with a 10-year drought zooming nearer on the horizon.
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Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch makes a pitching change against the Atlanta Braves in the eighth inning at Truist Park in Atlanta on Tuesday, June 18, 2024.
"We got to win the next game," said left-hander Tarik Skubal , whose 2.50 ERA in 15 starts makes him one of the frontrunners for the AL Cy Young Award. "That's where our focus should be every single day, and if we can do that through the rest of the year, I like the group we got here."
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In 2024, the "group we got here" has struggled with a bad offense, subpar infield defense and a slumping bullpen. The offense is the most glaring issue, simply because it wasn't built to withstand demotions, injuries and underperformance.
Scott Harris — the second-year president of baseball operations — warned of a volatile offense as part of the development process, but despite acquiring veterans Mark Canha and Gio Urshela on one-year contracts, Harris didn't do enough to prepare the Tigers to weather the storms of the season, specifically the demotions of Spencer Torkelson and Parker Meadows to Triple-A Toledo, the long-term back injury to Kerry Carpenter and the continued struggles of rookie second baseman Colt Keith .
Riley Greene can't carry the Tigers alone on offense.
Manager A.J. Hinch — searching for his first winning record in Detroit in his fourth season — has addressed the struggles of the slow-to-develop hitters many times. The gap between the quality of pitching at Triple-A and MLB is wider than ever before, but that doesn't excuse the prolonged problem.
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"The approaches are fine," Hinch said of the Tigers' offense, which wrapped up Wednesday's loss with a .668 OPS, ranking 24th in MLB. "I think the execution is hard. Right now, we're not in a good place. When that piles on you a little bit, even though you try to separate time after time, it's good that we're getting an off day."
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Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal (29) pitches against then Houston Astros in the fourth inning at Minute Maid Park in Houston on Friday, June 14, 2024.
The starting rotation has been bolstered by Skubal, right-hander Jack Flaherty and right-hander Reese Olson , but the offense isn't scoring enough runs for them, exemplified in Monday's 2-1 loss , Tuesday's 2-1 loss and Wednesday's 7-0 loss . The Tigers were swept by the Braves with owner Christopher Ilitch — visiting a friend from college — in attendance to watch his team at Truist Park.
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Skubal, by the way, becomes a free agent after the 2026 season.
He expects to win now.
"I don't want to speak for anyone else, but I'll speak for myself," Skubal said in spring training, while Harris and Hinch downplayed postseason expectations . "Our division was pretty wide-open last year. I want to win the division and get to the playoffs. I think that's why you play the game, to play playoff baseball and compete for a World Series. That's where I'm at mentally."
Greene, a 23-year-old with All-Star upside , is the Tigers' only young hitter with a pulse right now, hitting .256 with 14 home runs in 73 games. Carpenter, a 26-year-old who is one of the best hitters in baseball against right-handed pitchers, hit .283 with eight homers in 50 games before suffering a lumbar spine stress fracture that will keep him out until late July .
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Detroit Tigers left fielder Riley Greene celebrates with manager A.J. Hinch after scoring a run against the Atlanta Braves in the sixth inning at Truist Park in Atlanta on Tuesday, June 18, 2024.
The Tigers have played 21 games without Carpenter. They hit .236 with a .684 OPS with Carpenter healthy, but since his May 29 placement on the injured list, they're hitting .217 with a .628 OPS.
Greene has done his best to carry the Tigers in Carpenter's absence, hitting .316 with a 1.014 OPS in those 21 games, but everyone else on the roster is hitting .204 with a .579 OPS.
"I don't really know," Greene said, when asked to explain why the Tigers are able to score 13 runs in one game , only to score three runs in their next four games combined. "It's the game of baseball. You run into guys that are having their best stuff, and it's tough to hit."
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Keith, a 22-year-old whom Harris signed to a long-term, club-friendly contract before his first MLB game, is hitting .229 with a .582 OPS in 65 games, on top of playing bad defense at second base. Still, it's way too soon to write him off at the plate. After all, Keith hit .306 with 27 home runs in Double-A Erie and Triple-A Toledo last season.
Justyn-Henry Malloy , a 24-year-old designated hitter whom Harris acquired in a trade with the Braves for reliever Joe Jiménez in his first offseason in charge, has soaked up all of Carpenter's plate appearances, but Malloy is hitting .154 with a 42.6% strikeout rate in the first 14 games of his MLB career .
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Who else can the Tigers count on to carry the offense into the future, joining Greene, Carpenter and maybe Keith?
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That's a question Harris needs to answer.
Fans might end up waiting for Max Clark and Kevin McGonigle — a pair of 19-year-old position player prospects in Low-A Lakeland, drafted together in July 2023 — to arrive for their MLB debuts before Harris' competitive window opens, even though Skubal could be gone by then.
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For now, the Tigers need to climb out of the hole they've put themselves in to avoid yet another season slipping away before the dog days of summer. They've lost 10 of 13 games, including four in a row.
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There's a chance to bounce back in the upcoming three-game series against the Chicago White Sox — the worst team in baseball — at Comerica Park. The Tigers have 88 games remaining on the schedule, but it feels like they need to sweep the White Sox.
It's now or never for this year's squad.
"We got to start with one," Hinch said, "which is what I always talk about."
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold .
Listen to our weekly Tigers show "Days of Roar" every Monday afternoon on demand at freep.com, Apple , Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts .
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers swooning as summer begins. Can anything stop it?
