AJ Hinch tried to put the Tigers’ moment in perspective before first pitch, and the reminder was a simple one: the season does not end on Aug. 3.
“We’re going to wake up the day after the (trade) deadline with a large portion of our season yet to be played,” he said. “We’ve got to be good at understanding where we are today, where we could be depending on the next two series and then afterward. Regardless, we have a good chance to win because we have good players.”
That bigger picture matters, because the Tigers still have 50 games left after the deadline. But it was hard to ignore the immediate problem Monday night, when Detroit lost for the third straight time, 8-5, to the Orioles in a game that tightened the pressure in the Wild Card chase.
Detroit dropped to 50-57, leaving the club seven games under .500, 4.5 games out of the Wild Card and 6.5 back in the Central Division.
The game played out like a strange little shootout. Baltimore kept answering with home runs, while Detroit tried to stay in it with sacrifice flies.
The Orioles hit three homers: Leodys Taveras, Coby Mayo and Tyler O’Neil. The Tigers countered with sacrifice flies from Hao-Yu Lee, who also pushed his hitting streak to 12 games, Matt Vierling and Spencer Torkelson.
Keider Montero, so steady for most of the stretch leading into Monday, just didn’t have his usual bite. After allowing four runs on June 6, he had gone 5-1 with one save and a 1.80 ERA across his previous 10 outings. This one was different.
His stuff looked muted early, and Baltimore tagged him for nine hits and six runs in 4.1 innings. Two of those runs were unearned after a Colt Keith error opened the door to a two-run second inning.
Montero did manage a brief reset, retiring six straight hitters from the end of the third into the fifth. But once the Tigers trimmed the deficit to one, Taveras jumped on an elevated 3-1 fastball and drove it 416 feet into the seats in right field.
After Jackson Holliday picked up his third hit of the night, Montero’s outing ended and right-hander Brenan Hanifee took over.
Mayo then added more damage, lifting an elevated sinker over the bullpens in left-center. It was a rough line for Montero all around: his velocity was down a tick across the board, his spin rates sat below his usual level, and the Orioles made him pay with one strikeout, only six whiffs on 35 swings and an average exit velocity of 90.6 mph on 21 balls in play.
Detroit did make things interesting in the fifth. Dillon Dingler singled and Keith doubled to set the table against Kyle Bradish, and Torkelson followed with a sacrifice fly. Zach McKinstry, who had tripled and scored in the second, then lined an RBI single to cut the Orioles’ lead to 7-5.
But Baltimore answered again in the sixth, when Cowser came off the bench and launched a pinch-hit homer off lefty Tyler Holton to make it a three-run game.
The Tigers never scored against the Orioles bullpen after that. Yennier Cano, Grant Wolfram, Andrew Kittredge and Rico Garcia handled the final 13 outs.
In Other News...
Phillies Deadline Tension Just Spilled Into A Bryce Harper Conflict
Tarik Skubals name keeps surfacing in the run-up to Mondays trade deadline, and for Detroit that alone makes every start feel heavier than the last. The left-hander has drawn interest from contenders, with the Dodgers among the clubs watching closely as they weigh pitching depth and the uncertainty around Shohei Ohtanis ability to take the ball.
The deadline pressure is not just about the Tigers, either. Philadelphia is dealing with its own internal tension as it looks for roster upgrades, and that kind of urgency can spill into all sorts of conversations across the market. For Detroit, the bigger question is whether the noise around Skubal turns into something concrete before the deadline clock runs out. [Read more 🡒]
Tigers Suddenly Hold The Deadline Decision Fans Have Waited On
Tarik Skubals latest turn in the rotation was a reminder that the Tigers are still living in the middle of a deadline decision, not the aftermath of one. Detroit has a real fork in the road with the trade deadline approaching, weighing whether to add help for a postseason push or listen on valuable arms that could reshape the roster in a hurry.
Skubal is far from the only name in the conversation, either, with Casey Mize, Kenley Jansen and Jack Flaherty all part of the same larger question about what direction the Tigers want to take. For now, the fact that Skubal is still taking the ball suggests the front office has not made its final call, and that uncertainty alone is enough to keep the rest of the league watching closely. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Urged To Pay A Massive Price For Tarik Skubal
Tarik Skubal keeps surfacing as the kind of deadline name that can alter a contenders entire summer, and Milwaukee has been floated as a club that should be aggressive if Detroit decides to listen. The appeal is obvious from the Brewers side: a front-line starter would instantly deepen a rotation that has been viewed as the teams biggest October question, and Skubal would give them the sort of impact arm that changes how a postseason series is managed.
For Detroit, any serious conversation would have to start with real talent coming back, which is why the prospect side of the equation matters so much. The Tigers are not in a position to move a pitcher of Skubals caliber lightly, and even if they entertain offers before the deadline, they would still have to weigh whether another club can beat the best package on the table or whether keeping him remains the smarter play. [Read more 🡒]