The Tigers had their chances, but two CJ Abrams home runs were the difference in a 3-1 loss to the Nationals on Tuesday night.
Detroit came in off a convincing win over Washington on Monday and was trying to clinch its penultimate series of the season, but the offense never quite finished enough rallies. The game stayed tight, the Tigers kept putting pressure on the Nationals, and Abrams kept making them pay.
Drew Anderson was sharp for most of the night. The Tigers right-hander has settled into a useful rhythm lately, and this was another outing where he generally kept the game under control.
Washington’s first breakthrough came in the second inning when Abrams opened the scoring with a leadoff homer. Anderson otherwise settled in, mixing pitches well and retiring 13 straight batters before James Wood singled with two outs in the sixth.
The Tigers had some traffic against Riley Cornelio and then Jackson Kent, but not much payoff early. Max Clark singled in the second before being picked off after a lengthy replay review overturned the original safe call. In the third, Hao-Yu Lee walked and Kevin McGonigle followed with a ground-rule double, but Eduardo Valencia struck out to strand both runners.
Detroit kept poking. Ben Malgeri doubled to lead off the fourth, and Spencer Torkelson later walked, but Javier Báez bounced into an inning-ending double play. Clark turned in a strong running catch in the fourth, then added another nice grab later as the Tigers tried to keep the game within reach.
The breakthrough finally came in the sixth. McGonigle reached when a third strike got away, moved up on a fielder’s choice, and then the Tigers kept the inning alive when Malgeri’s grounder set up Clark for an RBI single.
A wild pitch brought Clark home, and suddenly it was tied 1-1. Torkelson walked again, but Báez flied out and the inning ended with Detroit unable to grab the lead.
Abrams answered in the seventh. With Dylan Crews on second, he launched his second homer of the night on a changeup to push Washington back in front 3-1.
That was enough to finish off Anderson’s night. His final line: 6+ innings, 5 hits, 3 runs, no walks, 5 strikeouts.
From there, the Nationals’ bullpen handled the rest. Tyler Kinley got the next three outs after Anderson exited. The Tigers put two more runners on in the seventh when Lee and McGonigle singled, but Jack Sinclair came in and got Valencia to ground out softly to second.
Washington added a few more baserunning threats late, stealing three bases on the night. Brant Hurter worked the eighth, allowing a single and a steal, and Beau Brieske did the same in the ninth.
Erik Tolman, Washington’s fourth rookie pitcher of the night, closed it out. He had some trouble slipping on the mound, and Lee walked with two outs before Zach McKinstry pinch-ran after Lee appeared to tweak something in his leg on a swing. McGonigle came close to a double down the left-field line, but he struck out to end it and Tolman picked up his fourth save.
Hao-Yu Lee continues to put together a strong rookie season. Coming into the game, he was at 340 plate appearances with a .268 average, 10 home runs and a .757 OPS, good for a 110 OPS+.
Detroit also rolled out an unusual top of the order, with Gleyber Torres leading off and five rookies behind him.
And yes, Riley Cornelio is a name that may have sparked a Beavis and Butt-Head flashback for some people. It happened.
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