CHICAGO – The Detroit Tigers lost, 7-1, to the Chicago White Sox on Saturday, May 30, in the second of three games in the series at Rate Field.
That gives their miserable May 20 losses in the past 24 games.
The Tigers (22-37) remain last in the American League and fall into a tie with the Colorado Rockies for last in all of MLB. They’re 11½ games back of the first-place Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central and seven games back of an AL wild-card spot.
There are 103 games remaining in the 2026 season.
What’s behind Tigers struggles on offense?
Manager A.J. Hinch doesn’t want the injuries to be an excuse, but he also isn’t pretending that poor health hasn’t tanked the Tigers.
The Tigers came into the season with an offense built around the idea that the whole would be greater than the sum of its parts. Over the past two months, injuries have removed many of those parts, leaving the Tigers with a lot of holes in their production.
This offense ranks 27th among the 30 MLB teams, averaging 3.81 runs per game.
“We’re never going to use it as an excuse,” Hinch said, referencing the injuries. “Is it part of it? Of course, it is.”
The offense was supposed to be a collection of complementary pieces in search of matchup advantages to win in the margins, but once many of those pieces disappeared (either by way of injury or underperformance), the plan stopped working.
The Tigers have spent most of the season without offensive contributors Kerry Carpenter, Gleyber Torres, Parker Meadows and Javier Báez, all currently sidelined with injuries. That’s not counting injuries to the rotation (including reigning two-time AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, who hasn’t pitched since late April) and the bullpen (with both Will Vest and Kenley Jansen spending time on the injured list).
Every team would feel the impact of losing that many established players.
But the Tigers haven’t been able to weather it.
“I’ve never had a team that’s faced this much injury struggle,” Hinch said. “When you lose half your team at some point, and we’ve made a ton of injured list movements, it doesn’t feel good, and it doesn’t look good.”
Still, Hinch refused to pin the losses entirely on the abundance of injuries – or the bad offense. After all, the defense has been plenty bad, as well, ranking 28th in MLB with minus-20 defensive runs saved.
There have been defensive lapses from practically everyone. Healthy players such as Spencer Torkelson, Zach McKinstry and Wenceel Pérez have faltered offensively. And the Tigers have suffered seven walk-off losses – including four in which they had the lead and surrendered a game-ending home run – highlighting their inability to finish games.
“We still have to find the resolve to win some games despite the injury stuff,” Hinch said. “I know that’s not the perfect answer. There are a lot of reasons why we’ve gotten where we’ve gotten, but this same group and the group that’s going to come off the injured list is going to be the same group that’s going to help us dig out of it one game at a time.”
There is hope on the horizon.
Carpenter and Torres – currently on rehab assignments with Triple-A Toledo – are expected to return to the Tigers in the coming days, while Skubal appears lined up for a mid-June return.
“Hopefully, over the next week, we’re going to start to see some familiar names come back,” Hinch said. “It’s encouraging when it puts a little bit of life back into your clubhouse.”
A.J. Hinch sends message to Tigers
In Saturday’s game, the Tigers failed to score in three separate opportunities in the middle innings.
There were two runners on in the fourth, fifth and sixth.
The Tigers came up empty each time.
What is Hinch’s message to the Tigers after 20 losses in 24 games?
“We’re going to keep playing,” Hinch said. “We have dug this hole deeper every day. We prepare. We’re disappointed. We’re frustrated. Nothing matters now except for the next day’s game, which I’ve been saying. It’s hard to process the depth of the hole that we’re in, and we continue to dig it deeper. We’ve got to do some things better. We’ve got to have a ton of toughness. We’re going to have to block out a lot of noise because I know this season has made a lot of people frustrated, including every single person that wears this uniform.”
Does Hinch feel like he’s out of answers?
“I don’t ever want to concede and feel like we’re out of answers,” Hinch said. “I know some of these games are rinse and repeat, and it feels like it’s the same thing. These guys are battling. We’re going to stay together. The worst thing we can do is start pointing fingers and assessing blame. We’ve got to find solutions. Am I tired of talking about the same type of game? Of course, we all are very frustrated. But there’s no quit in me, there’s no quit in us, and tomorrow can be a better day.”
The Jahmai Jones problem
Speaking of answers, the Tigers have a decision to make.
Jahmai Jones – a right-handed hitter who is a liability in the outfield – needs to hit left-handed pitchers to be a positive contributor to the Tigers.
In 2026, Jones is hitting .190 with a .594 OPS in 64 plate appearances against left-handers. (He is also 0-for-12 with six strikeouts against right-handers).
“He crushed last year in this role and in this position,” Hinch said, referencing Jones’ .288 batting average and .970 OPS in 122 plate appearances against lefties in 2025. “He knows that’s his role to impact this pretty heavy left-handed-hitting lineup that we have. I know recent results have not been there.”
Jones evaluated his struggles.
“I’m just trying to hit the ball hard anytime I get up there, and when I do, it’s right at somebody,” Jones said. “I have a little bit of bad aim. I’m just trying to do my job for the boys. We’ve just had some bad luck of some balls hit hard at people.”
If the Tigers abandon Jones, Max Anderson – a 24-year-old right-handed hitter who is a poor defensive infielder but crushes left-handers – is waiting in Triple-A Toledo for his MLB debut.
To avoid that, Jones must improve his performance soon.
“We’re going to stay together,” Hinch said. “Obviously, we’re trying to sort out a lot of things, including that type of role and how we can get more out of this roster.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers takeaways: Does A.J. Hinch blame injuries for offense?
Reporting by Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
