Houston — The Tigers lost another road series on Wednesday, dropping the rubber match against the Houston Astros, 4-2, at Daikin Park.
They have won just two of 13 road series this season and now come home Friday 14 games under .500. Meaning, despite a brief flurry of wins at the start of June, they find themselves farther out of contention than they were in the woebegone days of May.
“We’re not going to win every series for the rest of the year so you can’t operate like it’s a colossal downturn if you do lose a series,” manager AJ Hinch said before the game. “But if you have an opportunity to win a series, our mindset has to be, take a step forward, as opposed to a sidestep or a step back.”
Sidesteps, at this point, almost equal back steps.
“The urgency is heightened based on the hole that we’re in and where we are at with our win total,” Hinch said. “Winning a series means you are taking a mini-step forward, you gain a game in a three-game span. It doesn’t end the season if you don’t. But it creates more urgency in the next series.”
BOX SCORE: Astros 4, Tigers 2
The urgency is heightened also because if they don’t start stringing together some wins soon, the roster could look different after the trade deadline on Aug. 3.
“We have to show up (Friday) and play,” Riley Greene said. “Things are going to happen. We just have to stay focused on ourselves and focused on playing team ball.”
The day started with the news that Gleyber Torres was going back on the injured list after he re-aggravated his left oblique. The Tigers were also without switch-hitting outfielder Wenceel Perez, who sustained facial injuries after a plyo band snapped during his postgame workout Tuesday night.
“It’s tough,” said Casey Mize, whose return from his second stint on the injured list Wednesday was a welcome counter to the exodus of injured players. “You try not to say it carries a ton of weight or that it’s the reason we had a tough time, but obviously, when things keep coming like this, it’s pretty tough. It’s frustrating.
“We’ve got to keep moving forward with whoever makes out the 26-man roster every day. But certinaly, when key players go down it can be tough on us as a group — away from the field and on the field.”
Mize, still kicking off some rust, especially with his command, was charged with three runs in 4⅔ innings, including a solo homer to Jeremy Pena, an at-bat that encapsulated his day.
Mize threw six pitches, the first five were outside the strike zone. Still, he got Pena to chase and got ahead 0-2. He threw three mostly non-competitive pitches to run the count full. The sixth pitch was the first one Mize threw in the strike zone, center-cut slider, and Pena drove it into the Crawford Boxes in left.
“I got myself in some tough counts today,” he said. “That was probably the biggest thing. It wasn’t about pitch selection or usage. Just a lot of three-ball counts, that was the issue. I feel like I went 0-2 to 3-2 and they reached base, which is frustrating. That’s been unlike me. Just a little out of whack.
“Not super pleased with my strike-throwing today. Tough counts lead to tough outcomes.”
Mize left after giving up an RBI double Yordan Alvarez in the fifth, again on a slider.
Kyle Finnegan, who had allowed just one of 21 inherited runners to score this season, gave up an RBI double to Isaac Paredes. He was clipped for a run in the sixth, too, and it would’ve been more had right fielder Kerry Carpenter not thrown a seed to the plate to cut down Jake Meyers trying to score from second on Pena’s RBI single.
Carpenter also supplied the only run off Astros starter Peter Lambert, who struck out five in seven brisk innings. Carpenter launched his 10th homer of the season with two outs in the seventh. It was the Tigers’ second hit of the game at that point.
“We had four base runners today,” Hinch said. “We had a hard time with the subtle movement he has on his pitches. He has a full arsenal and he’s in and around the strike zone. We had a hard time producing anything against him. The at-bats were relatively quick, we didn’t piece anything together. With that few base runners, it’s hard to create any pressure.”
Kevin McGonigle led off the ninth with his sixth homer. He ambushed a first-pitch sinker from lefty Josh Hader and drove it into the Crawford Boxes in left. Nine of the Tigers 13 runs scored in this series came off homers.
Feast or famine is a tough way to win.
“This series in itself will be somewhat symbolic,” Hinch said. “The first day, we weren’t talking about a struggling offense, we were talking about putting up nine runs and having a comfortable win.”
The Tigers hit five home runs and scored nine times in the series opener. They also struck out a season-high 18 times.
“We do need to piece together at-bats to score, other than the homers,” Hinch said.
Between the non-stop injuries, the horrendous 6-22 month of May and the widening gap between them and playoff contention, the 10-game homestand looms larger than any 10-game stretch should in June.
But here we are.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Tigers fall to Astros in finale, lose another road series
Reporting by Chris McCosky, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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By Chris McCosky, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
