With a very tight AL Central race in progress and a two-game losing streak going into the weekend, the Detroit Tigers thought that relief was in sight in the form of a date with the lackluster Cleveland Indians.
photo credit: joiseyshowaa
The AL Central standings are getting to be quite a traffic jam.
Instead, the toothless Tigers were swept in resounding fashion by the Tribe, which won all four games by a total score of 21-8.
What happened? Basically, two rotten pitching performances on Friday and Sunday sandwiched two low-scoring one-run losses in a Saturday doubleheader. On Friday, Max Scherzer had his first subpar start in a while, and the bullpen promptly came in and threw gasoline in the fire, giving up four runs in the sixth inning. Today, Andrew Oliver had his third bad start in a row, surrendering five runs in 3 2/3 innings.
Yesterday, Justin Verlander managed a quality start, but Fausta Carmona’s effort was of slightly finer quality for Cleveland. In the nightcap, Rick Porcello looked strong in his return from AAA, only to get outdueled by Mitch Talbot and the Indians bullpen.
The real culprit all weekend was offense. Averaging two runs per game is not going to get you far. Star slugger Miguel Cabrera went 2 for 14 in the series, and the Tigers didn’t hit a single home run.
Meanwhile, the White Sox choked big time against the Twins today. Going into the bottom of the ninth with a 6-3 lead, Bobby Jenks and Sergio Santos failed to retire a single batter. The Twins won 7-6.
So now the White Sox have lost three in a row—almost as bad as the Tigers’ five-game skid. The Twins have won three in a row and now are tied with the Tigers, just 1 ½ games behind Chicago.
And guess who the Tigers face next? Yep, it’s the Twins.
The AL Central race is like British weather. If you don’t like it, just wait a minute.
