Baltimore – You pitch well and don’t hit. You hit well but can’t pitch or defend well enough to hold a lead.
This is what a bad baseball stretch looks like and the Tigers can’t seem to shake it.
Not even against a team that’s struggled as badly as they have.
The Baltimore Orioles prolonged the Tigers’ misery with a 7-4 win on a rainy Friday night at Camden Yards.
It was the Tigers’ seventh straight loss. They are 2-15 in their last 17 games and are now 12 games under .500 (20-32).
It rained steadily throughout the game, gaining intensity starting in the fourth. There was some urgency to get the game in because the forecast for Saturday was even worse.
But there comes a point where player safety becomes an issue. Case in point:
On a night when the Tigers already placed one reliever on the injured list (Burch Smith, shoulder inflammation), lefty Brant Hurter left the game in the fifth inning after he seemingly slipped on the wet mound.
He got Colton Cowser to fly out to right but he immediately went into a crouch and reached back at his left glut or hip. He was not moving freely and walked slowly off the field in obvious discomfort.
There was no immediate word on the exact nature of the injury.
Just another layer of frustration for the Tigers.
And to think, it started off so well.
Rookie Kevin McGonigle hit the first pitch of the game, a left-on-left fastball from opener Keegan Akin, into the seats in right field. When Gage Workman and Hao-Yu Lee hit back-to-back doubles off Chris Bassitt in the third, the Tigers’ led 2-0.
And at that point, Tigers’ starter Jack Flaherty was dealing. He stuck out five Orioles in the first two innings. He was missing bats (seven whiffs on 16 swings) and beating hitters with his four-seamer in the strike zone (four whiffs on eight swings, five called strikes in eight batters).
It all shifted with one swing. Or, on one misplay, depending on how you want to look at it.
BOX SCORE: Orioles 7, Tigers 4
With one on and one out in the third, Flaherty got Gunnar Henderson to hit a hard ground ball right at shortstop McGonigle. It might’ve tough to double-up the speedy Henderson, but it would’ve been two outs and a runner at first. Except McGonigle didn’t field the ball cleanly.
After Adley Rutschman popped out for the second out, Flaherty left a fastball up and away to Pete Alonso and he launched it onto the concourse in right field. His 10th homer flipped the scoreboard, 3-2 Orioles.
The Tigers retook the lead in the fourth on a single by Riley Greene, double by Spencer Torkelson and a couple of run-scoring ground balls.
But things unraveled on Flaherty in a three-run fourth. That inning featured three singles, a run-scoring balk and one of the flukiest home runs you will see.
Jackson Holliday, a left-handed batter, sliced a ball down the left field line. With left fielder Greene chasing, the ball snuck over the 333-marker and just under the foul pole.
Greene hit two balls later in the game 60 feet farther to right-center and center and was out on each. Kind of the way of the world for the Tigers right now.
The rain never stopped but the Tigers’ hitting did. They got one hit, one base runner, after the fourth.
Chris.McCosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Tigers’ losing skid hits 7 games, drop opener in Baltimore
Reporting by Chris McCosky, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
