Reds 12, Tigers 5: The offense finally arrives, so the pitching staff implodes

If you wanted to see the Detroit Tigers' season encapsulated in a single game, boy was Monday night's 12-5 loss the metaphor for you!

The Tigers led 5-0 in the sixth inning after starter Buck Farmer took a no-hitter into the fifth. Fangraphs' win probability chart gave them a 97.1 percent chance of winning the game. It was a dominating show. Think of the halcyon days of April when Detroit opened the year 11-2 on its way to a sure playoff berth. By the end of the inning, the Tigers had managed to give up 10 runs in a frame for the first time in six years and stared up at a five-run deficit. By then they had just a 2.2 percent chance of winning the game. And like winning today, any chance of making the playoffs seems rather laughable. But hey, #ProtectThePick.

And they're certainly doing their best to protect it, now losers of four straight after briefly getting off path with three consecutive wins last week.

That certainly was Tigers baseball.

ROARS:

OFFENSE! -- The Tigers sent nine batters to the plate in the first inning, with home runs by J.D. Martinez and Nick Castellanos accounting for four runs in the frame. Miguel Cabrera doubled in the fourth to make it 5-0.

J.D. Martinez -- Gave the Tigers a 3-0 lead in the first inning with a home run to left-center. Finished 2-for-5.

Nick Castellanos -- He hit a dinger, too.

Miguel Cabrera -- Had a sixth consecutive multi-hit game, finishing 2-for-5.

Ian Kinsler -- Went 3-for-3. Walked twice to arrive safely on five all five plate appearances. He's on fire.

HISSES:

PITCHING STAFF! -- You know what ...

We've done this enough with the pitching staff. Suffice it to say, four Tigers pitchers in the sixth inning combined to allow 10 runs on seven hits with no errors behind them. There were two homers (Hi, Eugenio Suarez, remember us?), two doubles, a triple and a single. Even poor Guido Knudson couldn't avoid it, giving up a moonshot two-run bomb of his own to Joey Votto in the eighth.

STREAKS AND STATS:

• J.D. Martinez has now hit eight home runs during interleague play this season and 33 home runs overall.
• The Tigers allowed a 10-run inning for the first time since April 2009.
• Ian Kinsler in the last seven games has gone 15-for-31 (.484 average) with three doubles, two home runs and a triple.

WIN PROBABILITY GRAPH:

Source: FanGraphs