Detroit – Tigers’ manager AJ Hinch sounded the battle cry before the game.
“We know the division runs through Cleveland,” he said. “As much as we want to say otherwise, they’ve done it. We have to take that personally and overcome them to get where we want to get to. That’s just the truth.
“I don’t want to bow down to them. I don’t want to celebrate their wins. But they put them up there. I see this as an opportunity to stand up for ourselves.”
His message didn’t immediately resonate.
The Cleveland Guardians (27-22) widened the already sizable gap between their lead in the Central Division and the last place Tigers (20-28), taking the first of four games 8-2 at Comerica Park in a game delayed 43 minutes at the start by a rainstorm.
The Tigers have lost 11 of their last 13 games. They scored three runs or less in 10 of those games.
BOX SCORE: Guardians 8, Tigers 2
This one felt like rock bottom.
“If we’re getting frustrated now, we’re late,” Hinch said. “Where we’re at, we’re going to have to stay together and work together and really dig ourselves out of this one step at a time. I worried about frustration a long time ago. This has been a grind for a lot of these guys. Their track record in not matching what we’re getting and that’s always tough.”
The Guardians scored seven unanswered runs after the Tigers scored a run in the first inning. Jose Ramirez (with a single and double), Chase DeLauter (on two ground outs) and Rhys Hoskins (double and sacrifice fly) each knocked in two runs.
Ramirez added a solo homer, his eighth, off lefty Enmanuel De Jesus in the ninth.
“I like this team. It’s a good team,” said lefty Framber Valdez, who gave up four runs in five innings. “We’re going to get better from here.”
Valdez, the Tigers’ $115 million free agent signing this offseason, battled his command as much as the Guardians’ hitters, issuing four walks and five hits.
“Things haven’t gone exactly 100% the way I wanted them to—or the way I planned for them to go—in every single game,” he said, through interpreter Carlos Guillen. “But like I said, things are going to improve, things are going to change. That’s just how baseball is. You can’t let situations like this break you down or make you lose heart.
“Keep your head high, and everyone’s moment is going to come. The moment will come for the Tigers to be No. 1.”
The Guardians, whose 216 walks are second in the American League, worked seven walks off Tigers’ pitchers. Lefty Brant Hurter, who has been one of the bullpen bright spots this season — coming in with a 2.01 ERA, an 0.94 WHIP and holding hitters to a .169 average — walked two of the four hitters he faced and allowed three runs.
“Not every walk is the same,” Hinch said. “Some they earned and some they didn’t.”
Valdez and Hurter, two left-handed pitchers, walked left-handed hitting Steven Kwan, who came in hitting .201, three times.
“With Kwan, there was a force field around the strike zone,” Hinch said. “We couldn’t throw anything close. Those things are frustrating.”
The hill was far too steep for the struggling Tigers’ offense to climb.
Right-hander Slade Cecconi, who entered with a 5.60 ERA and a 1.58 WHIP, stymied the Tigers for 7.1 innings.
“We are grinding and the results haven’t been there,” said Dillon Dingler. “But there’s full confidence in our offense turning things around.”
After posting two hits (including an RBI double by Riley Greene) in the first inning, they managed two more singles through the seventh. They weren’t getting hits, nor were they hitting many balls hard.
They put 20 balls in play against Cecconi with an average exit velocity of 84.6 mph. They hit four balls with an exit velo of 95 mph or harder.
“He was pitch-efficient and really attacking the zone,” Hinch said. “He tries to beat you in the zone and he can get you to chase a little. Early, we weren’t on time for the fastball and then we got a little jumpy. We had some good at-bats. Riley and Kevin (McGonigle) had good at-bats. But he was minimizing just about everything else.”
The last hard-hit ball off Cecconi was a 400-foot homer to left by Matt Vierling, his fourth. That came leading off the eighth, with the Tigers down by six runs.
Insufficient. Frustrating.
“I just feel like we’re not stringing it together,” Dingler said. “Good teams, and we are one, they string together good at-bats and have big innings and pass the baton, hit after hit, and push runs across. I just feel like we’re not doing that right now.”
Dingler said the only thing to do is flush this one and gear up for Tuesday. There are still three games left in this series and four and half months left in the season.
“It’s back to the drawing board,” Hinch said. “Back to work and finding a different way to be a positive influence tomorrow. Get your good work in and find a way to have success. I know these guys are battling and grinding. I know a lot of people are giving up on them but we’re not giving up on each other.”
Chris.McCosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Tigers fall to first-place Guardians in rain-delayed opener
Reporting by Chris McCosky, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
