Tigers 4, Twins 2: Detroit Avoids the Sweep Against Cold Offense, Shaky Bullpen

Winnable game but only one loss. Still have a 5 game lead in the division at the moment and still tied for the 3rd best record in the AL. They won the series, now need to take care of business against KC then again in Detroit next week before the tougher schedule comes their way.

(Bursts in and starts commenting without checking what sport we're talking about here)

Losing a winnable game to a lousy team bodes very, very ill for our playoff chances.

(Somebody points at the main photo at the top of the article which clearly depicts baseball)

Ah, nevermind.

Another tough game by Detroit, I wouldn't doubt that they've got the best BP in MLB. They are so deep in very good BP arms. As a lazyboy manager, I would have manage this game differently. I won't bore you with every detail but the main point I'd like to point out is only that in the 9th inning I'd pinch hit Celestino w/ the bases loaded for Polanco. #1 Polanco is a better clutch hitter and #2 produces righty / lefty match up. If that wouldn't win the game, defensively I'd place Polanco at 2B, Gordon in LF and Buxton in CF. Celestino made valiant effort at that HR but believe Buxton would've made that catch,

9 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

Another tough game by Detroit, I wouldn't doubt that they've got the best BP in MLB. They are so deep in very good BP arms. As a lazyboy manager, I would have manage this game differently. I won't bore you with every detail but the main point I'd like to point out is only that in the 9th inning I'd pinch hit Celestino w/ the bases loaded for Polanco. #1 Polanco is a better clutch hitter and #2 produces righty / lefty match up. If that wouldn't win the game, defensively I'd place Polanco at 2B, Gordon in LF and Buxton in CF. Celestino made valiant effort at that HR but believe Buxton would've made that catch,

Polanco is hurt.

1 hour ago, blindeke said:

Polanco is hurt.

didn't know, what happened to him?

Although KC & DET are on the bottom, they always play us tough. That's how it goes, even very good teams lose to them once in awhile. Just because we didn't sweep the Tigers doesn't mean it time to roll over and start trading away our players. Tigers have one the best if not the best BP in MLB.

Bundy got another lease on life today, pitching smart, the way he did his first couple starts. Trevor Megill may have lost the game, but I still like him, because he is... tALlllll...

I think Rocco is playing with fire with a questionable bullpen.  Every game is an adventure. I’m afraid this group of very average relievers will be toast by July.

The "greatest" player in the game today is 0 for his last 26 and is batting 202.  Maybe t'werent a good idea to sign The Buck to so many bucks for so many years?

You can can the Front office for getting rid of our best bullpen arm on the first day of the season.

I never look at ERA for a BP arm - too misleading for the innings and circumstances.  They can come in give up some runs and still have an era of zero if the runs are charged to the previous pitcher.  I would like to see the runs divided between RP and the previous pitcher.  WHIP is so much more of a true judgment for RP and Pagan plays with fire and gasoline.  

Duran is the one piece that is dependable and something to build around.  I wish Alcala was here - he would add the second piece.  Thielbar and Duffey have lost a lot of their dependability.  Cano has not shown what I think he can do.  Joe Smith has been great and I hope he can keep going.  I am still not sold on Jax and Megill is just another pickup that we rotate in to fill the pen.  With that set of arms I am not confident.  But I am liking the SP going deeper.

I do not worry about this particular game - all teams - good and bad - wins some games during the year.  I mean the Orioles beat the Yankees one game this week.

Yes a very winnable game.  But these things happen in MLB.  I've been wondering for several weeks how this bullpen can hold up.  They are pitching way too many innings on a nightly basis.  I just can't see how they can be expected to hold up throughout the summer.  They haven't had to deal with too many good teams thus far.  Just thinking that the much tougher schedule in June will highlight many of the teams weaknesses.  Byron Buxton?  Where is he? 

1. The entire game turned on the foul ball off the knob of Correa’s bat. If that is a ball or HBP, I think the Twins win. But the upside is Correa wasn’t hurt.

2, Max’s K in the bottom of the 9th was an abysmal AB. What was it - 5 sliders, none were in the zone, he swung at all 5 with two weak fouls and three misses? I love Max, but that was a poor mental effort by a seasoned pro.

3.We’ve won way more than our share of games we shoulda/coulda lost this year. So one went the other way this time. No biggie - see you tomorrow,

I'm not putting this loss on the bullpen. No, they weren't great and couldn't hold it down late, but at the end of the day the offense only scored 2 runs. That's not good enough even against Detroit. (And if we'd gotten one more measly run in regulation, we would have had those last two get tacked on to the bullpen)

We won the series, so I'm not going to panic, but this was not a strong series performance by the offense and they need to step it up in order to keep things rolling. Bases loaded and no one out with Correa, Kepler, and Sanchez coming up and we get nothing? Oof.

58 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

I'm not putting this loss on the bullpen. No, they weren't great and couldn't hold it down late, but at the end of the day the offense only scored 2 runs. That's not good enough even against Detroit. (And if we'd gotten one more measly run in regulation, we would have had those last two get tacked on to the bullpen)

We won the series, so I'm not going to panic, but this was not a strong series performance by the offense and they need to step it up in order to keep things rolling. Bases loaded and no one out with Correa, Kepler, and Sanchez coming up and we get nothing? Oof.

I'm always surprised at how much sentiment shifts, even subtly, based on one or two games. 

Twins offense has been fine this year; they're 11 in MLB in OPS. Keep in mind that scoring & offense in general is way down in the MLB this year; it's all compared to what. 

Pitching has been great; 6th lowest ERA in MLB. 

27 minutes ago, Possumlad said:

I'm always surprised at how much sentiment shifts, even subtly, based on one or two games. 

Twins offense has been fine this year; they're 11 in MLB in OPS. Keep in mind that scoring & offense in general is way down in the MLB this year; it's all compared to what. 

Pitching has been great; 6th lowest ERA in MLB. 

11th in OPS, but only 15th in runs scored. They're just above league average in offense for a team where the offense was seen as a strength, so it's a little concerning. Yes, there have been some injuries...but everyone has injuries. The pitching has been significantly better than expected, which is great: the 6th lowest ERA is awesome. But their FIP isn't nearly as good, which could signal that they've been catching some breaks. And if they revert back to the mean a little on the pitching side, they're going to be in trouble if the offense doesn't pick up. (admittedly, they also might be missing some breaks on the offensive side in the way the OPS and actual runs scored is matching up)

His season WHIP now sits at 1.47, a career-worst for him, despite the excellent 2.30 season ERA thus far, a career-best. Should we be at all worried about him?

We should've started worrying a while back. The guy has a FIP 3x his ERA and is getting hit almost as hard as he was last season. Tick tick tick.....