The Tigers Were Losing 7-2 In The Ninth, Scored 8 Runs To Beat The Rays 10-7
There’s ninth inning comebacks, and then there’s NINTH INNING COMEBACKS. This was a NINTH INNING COMEBACK, to go into that inning down five runs, and then finish the inning one run shy of it not even being a save situation in your favor.
All due respect to the Tigers, I think the outcome of this game says way more about how bad the Rays’ bullpen is than how good the Tigers’ offense is. Don’t get me wrong — that’s a great hitting team over there in Detroit. They’re the seventh best run-producing team in the majors, and the fifth best hitting team in the MLB batting average-wise (.271), sixth in OPS (.775). But it takes a special kind of suck to give up eight runs in the ninth inning and lose a game by three runs that you were leading by five going into the final inning.
Surprisingly, and this makes no sense at all given that they’re the best team in the league, the Texas Rangers have the worst bullpen in the American League (4.81 ERA). But I guess that just goes to show you how bad the Rays’ bullpen is if they’re the next team in line on that list with an ERA of 4.68. We’re exactly one month away from the trade deadline, so it’s no longer “too soon” to be checking out those standings to see if your team will be buyers or sellers on August 1. Going into play on Friday, the Tigers are 7.5 games back of first place in the AL Central, looking up at the Kansas City Royals (6 GB) and the Cleveland Indians, who have won 13 straight games.
I still think the Royals will make a little bit of a run so that the Indians don’t completely run away with the division, but that’s Cleveland’s division to win. They have the best starting rotation in the American League (3.51 ERA), the sixth best bullpen in the MLB (3.24 ERA), and a decent enough offense to win that division. If you’re the Tigers, your route to the postseason is through the Wild Card, which they’re a game and a half back of a spot, but with the Blue Jays, Astros, Red Sox and Royals in front of them.
To this point in the season, the only team ahead of them in the Wild Card standings that they’ve performed better than, in terms of run differential, have been the Royals (-12). The Tigers have a run differential this season of zero, which just goes to show you how painfully mediocre they’ve been, and not worthy of a playoff spot.
