A.J. Hinch didn’t sugarcoat where the Tigers stand after another rough night in Minnesota.
Following Detroit’s 15-2 loss to the Twins on Tuesday, Hinch made it clear the mood inside the clubhouse is as bad as the score suggests. Minnesota blew the game open with 10 runs in the sixth inning, turning a 4-1 contest into a blowout and dropping the Tigers to 63-75.
“It’s a pretty low feeling,'' said Hinch, per Chris McCosky of the Detroit Free Press. “We’re not in a good place right now. We’re not executing the way we’re accustomed to or the way we’re talented enough to.”
The defeat put Detroit 10 games behind the Chicago White Sox in the American League Central and seven games back of the Cleveland Guardians for the third and final AL wild-card spot. For a team that made an unexpected push after trading away Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal, the slide has been hard to ignore.
The first two games of the road trip have been especially ugly. The Tigers opened the series Monday night with an 11-1 loss, then followed it with another lopsided defeat that left little room for optimism. Over 18 innings, Detroit has managed just three runs while its pitching, defense and offense have all fallen short.
Tuesday’s sixth inning summed up the night. Detroit had a chance to limit the damage, but a throwing error with one out allowed two runs to score instead of ending the inning with the second out. From there, Minnesota kept pouring it on.
The Tigers now have a chance to avoid the sweep tonight with Drew Anderson set to face Minnesota’s Dean Kremer. After that, Detroit heads to Cleveland for a four-game series stretched over three days, including a day/night doubleheader on Friday.
It was a series plenty of people had circled weeks ago. Now, with Detroit fading fast, it looks more like another test of how much is left in the tank.
There has been a lot of change over the last month for the Tigers, and the roster turnover from trades and injuries has piled up. That doesn’t make the losses sting any less for Hinch, who made it plain after Tuesday night just how heavy this stretch has become.
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