Maybe the Tigers need to call up a reliever to take Brandon Inge's place.
After playing a double header Saturday -- including an 11-inning nightcap -- and having Sunday's starter last just 3 2/3 innings, the supply of energy drinks in the bullpen must have been running pretty much near empty anyway.
There was no respite Monday.
Jeremy Bonderman made it through just 5 1/3 innings of a game that refused to end until, finally, maybe even mercifully, fourteen innings, four hours and 53 minutes later Nelson Cruz's two-run home run proved to be the difference. The Tigers' losing streak has hit six. The third baseman is on the disabled list.
When things go wrong, they go really, really wrong quick. Only one thing can save the Tigres now, as one commenter posted:
The Detroit Tigers have encountered an unrecoverable error. Please reboot the season to continue.
The game began as a see-saw affair before settling in. The Tigers trailed by two in the second and three in the third. They used the long ball to get back into it. Magglio Ordonez had one homer, Miguel Cabrera had two. The teams exchanged runs in the seventh and eighth.
And then things slowed down a bit. Detroit had a chance to win it in the 11th after loading the bases with one out, but Carlos Guillen ended the threat by grounding into a double play. (Some may look to Johnny Damon for some blame, as he didn't score on a Brennan Boesch single to center field when he wasn't sure if it would be caught or not. In the postgame he said he lost the ball in the lights and Nelson faked him out, so he didn't risk making an out.)
And oh-by-the way, lefty top prospect Casey Crosby was shut down for the season with pitching arm troubles.
If you're looking for positives ... you can supply some. These are dire times. I am beginning to think the baseball gods really, really hate us for some reason.