Pitching is nice and all, but if you can’t make contact, you can’t win. The Detroit Tigers learned that the hard way on Wednesday, as their hitters combined to strike out 17 times in a 7-2 loss against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field.
There isn’t much to say when this happens. The Tigers offense struggled to make contact against Cleveland starter Mike Clevinger, who struck out a career-high 12 hitters in six innings of work. The Tigers managed a run off Clevinger in the sixth, which cut a 2-0 Cleveland lead in half at the time. The not-so-fun part of that fact? It was the first time the Tigers had scored against Cleveland with Spencer Turnbull on the mound this year.
In his fourth start against them.
Turnbull, to his credit, pitched fairly well. He gave up a pair of runs in the third inning when the heart of the Cleveland lineup was able to string some hits together. Oscar Mercado came away with the final blow, a two-run single that put his team up 2-0. They added a run in the seventh when Turnbull gave up a leadoff double to Jose Ramirez, who then stole third base and scored on a two-out bunt single off reliever Nick Ramirez. The run seemed important at the time, as it extended Cleveland’s lead to 3-1.
Unfortunately, it would not matter, other than to soil Turnbull’s ERA. Joe Jimenez was greeted by a Francisco Lindor home run in the eighth, and then proceeded to give up three more hits and a run before Zac Reininger came in to stop the bleeding. To little surprise, Reininger struggled, and Greg Allen drove in two more runs with a one-out double to put Cleveland ahead 7-2, the final margin of victory.
MLB draft standings update (because that’s all to play for at this point)
The Tigers are 29-62, and 2 1⁄2 games “behind” the Baltimore Orioles for MLB’s worst record. The Orioles are currently trailing the Washington Nationals in the seventh inning, 2-1.
Silver lining of the day
After yet another rough outing, it’s hard to see the Tigers trading Joe Jimenez at this point. He has a 5.66 ERA and 4.98 FIP in 35 innings this season.