Tigers can't overcome costly defensive mistake in one-run loss to Twins
Chris McCosky
Minneapolis — Many of the things the Tigers have done to produce 11 wins this season, they didn’t do Saturday in a grating 4-3 loss to the Minnesota Twins at Target Field.
Starting pitcher Reese Olson didn’t throw enough strikes. He didn’t get ahead of enough hitters or put enough of the ones he did get ahead of away. Defensively, the Tigers had critical defensive misplays. And, for the second time in six days, the offense couldn’t put any pressure on Twins starter Bailey Ober.
"We shouldn't have to play perfectly to win," manager AJ Hinch said. "But right now we can't afford things like that."
The bottom of the fifth inning was a microcosm of this recent scruffy brand of baseball.
Olson, who ended up finishing five innings at 95 pitches and 60 strikes, went to three-ball counts on the first three hitters, allowing a hit and a walk. The hit was by No. 9 hitter Austin Martin, a ball that shortstop Javier Báez made a superb backhand play on in the hole but first baseman Spencer Torkelson couldn’t scoop the throw out of the dirt.
"He's trying to make a great play," Hinch said. "If he picks it, we don't even talk about it. It was tough on both ends."
The error was charged to Báez. Báez in the fourth inning had whiffed on a ground ball in the hole by Byron Buxton which was scored a single. But he redeemed himself a couple of batters later with a sensational diving stop behind second base and a glove-flip toss to second to start a double play.
"That was one of the best plays I've ever seen," Olson said.
With one out and runners at first and second in the fifth, Olson induced what looked like an inning-ending double-play ground ball from left-handed hitting Alex Kirilloff. Except the ball bounced through Torkelson’s legs, allowing one run to score and sending Ryan Jeffers to third.
Jeffers scored on a sacrifice fly by Trevor Larnach. Two unearned runs. Ultimately the difference in the game.
"I was ready for it, I wanted it," Torkelson said. "Tough bounce. Just didn't make the play. I need to be better. I will be better. Reese was battling all day and he made a really good pitch to get that ground ball. I've got to make sure of at least one (out) there."
When the margins are as thin as they've been for the Tigers — they are now 6-4 in one-run games — it's human nature to try to do too much.
"I've fallen into that trap," Torkelson said. "Just trying to do more, make the superhero play instead of just getting one out. Not rushing it trying to get two (outs). It's back to basics. Get the one out and the second out is a bonus. But now, it's just how quickly we can bounce back. It's not about dwelling on the last four games."
The Tigers have made nine errors the last four games, worth eight unearned runs. For historical perspective, per MLB.com research, it’s the first time they’ve amassed two or more unearned runs in four straight games since 1989, when they did it in five straight games.
"You always emphasize it," Hinch said. "We're not going to accept mediocrity. But these are mistakes that happen during the game and there were some that weren't on the board. You don't have to play perfect to win at this level, but that's key.
"It's not focus. It's not work. It's not them knowing. It's not ranting by the coaches. It's just execution and at this level it gets exposed when you don't execute."
The unearned runs gave Ober a four-run cushion. He’d blanked the Tigers on three hits over six innings in Detroit and he met very little resistance through six innings on Saturday. Again mixing four-seam fastballs, cutters and changeups, with a dash of spin (sliders and curves), he didn’t allow a hit until Matt Vierling punched a single with one out in the fifth.
He set down 17 of 18 hitters until he walked Riley Greene with two outs in the sixth. Rookie Wenceel Perez followed with a ringing triple into the right-field corner, scoring Greene. It was Perez’s second triple in two days.
It was also the only mark against Ober.
"I thought he was softer and threw more off-speed this time," Torkelson said. "He was making pitches. I don't think he threw a lot of pitches in the heart."
One of the Tigers' early personality traits held, though. They didn’t quit. Relievers Joey Wentz (1⅔ innings) and Alex Lange (1⅓ innings) kept the Twins off the board and the offense whittled the deficit to one against the Twins’ sagging bullpen.
Báez doubled in a run off reliever Cole Sands in the seventh. And in the eighth, Greene worked a walk off lefty Kody Funderburk, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on a two-out single by another left-handed hitter, Kerry Carpenter.
But it ended there. Right-hander Griffin Jax locked down the ninth inning for the Twins. Though Parker Meadows high fly ball to right landed in Manuel Margot's glove a couple of steps in front of the wall.
"I don't remember the last time we played a blowout game," Carpenter said. "But we're used to it (the close games). We welcome it. It's like, if we can clean up some of this stuff, we can win a lot of these games we're losing. We need to hone in and clean up a few things and we're going to start winning a lot."
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky