Brewers 11, Tigers 0: Detroit gets blasted on final day of regular season

Since taking early leads against the Milwaukee Brewers didn’t work out, the Detroit Tigers just didn’t score at all. They collected seven hits, but weren’t able to push any of them across home plate in an 11-0 drubbing on the final day of the regular season.

The Tigers were the first to threaten, putting a couple of runners on base in the top of the first before Mikie Mahtook grounded out on a close play to end the inning. The Brewers, chasing a division title, wasted no time taking the lead in the bottom of the first. Turnbull walked a pair of batters, then Jesus Aguilar drove in the eventual winning run with an RBI single. Mike Moustakas followed with an RBI single of his own to put Milwaukee up 2-0.

Turnbull settled down after that. He retired the next seven Brewers hitters he faced, and 13 of the next 14. Unfortunately, the lone exception was Aguilar, who hit a solo home run to increase Milwaukee’s lead.

Meanwhile, the Tigers’ offensive struggles continued. Dawel Lugo walked with one out in the second, but was quickly erased on a double play ball off the bat of Pete Kozma. Jeimer Candelario advanced into scoring position in the third, but the Tigers couldn’t bring him home. Kozma doubled and made it to third base in the fifth, but was also stranded. Then, Niko Goodrum was picked off of first base to end the sixth.

Turnbull also ran into trouble in the sixth. He allowed a pair of singles to lead off the inning, and was removed after striking out Aguilar. Blaine Hardy relieved Turnbull, but didn’t help, allowing a walk and a sacrifice fly to plate another Brewers run.

From there, the rout was on. The Brewers scored six runs in the seventh, all charged to Sandy Baez and Zac Reininger. Matt Hall allowed another run in the eighth, a Travis Shaw home run to right field.

Meet the new Tigers, same as the old Tigers

The loss lowered Detroit’s record to 64-98, the same mark they posted in 2017. Elsewhere, the Miami Marlins couldn’t solve Noah Syndergaard, leaving Detroit a half-game ahead of them in the standings. As a result, the Tigers will have the No. 5 pick in next year’s MLB draft.

But hey, there’s baseball tomorrow!

On a more positive note, the Brewers improved to 95-67 with the win. They finished with the same record as the Chicago Cubs, and the two teams will play a tiebreaker game on Monday. The Los Angeles Dodgers and Colorado Rockies also tied atop their division, giving us two winner-avoids-the-Wild-Card matchups before the actual do-or-die games later this week.

Finally, thank you

Thank you to everyone who read and commented on our stories this season. From those visiting for the first time to those who have commented from game one to 162, thank you for your commentary and support.

Now be sure to stick around for the offseason!