DETROIT — It continues to be an exercise in frustration and futility for the Tigers.
After rallying for a pair of runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the game, closer Gregory Soto gave up a two-out RBI single to Oscar Gonzalez in the top of the 10th and the Cleveland Guardians completed the three-game sweep of the Tigers at Comerica Park with a 4-3 win.
The Guardians were without closer Emmanuel Clase Thursday. Guardians' manager Terry Francona used him in both of the first two games, even to protect a three-run lead on Tuesday, and in three of the last four.
The Tigers took advantage.
Against right-hander Trevor Stephan, Harold Castro and Willi Castro set the table with a walk and single. It was the third hit of the day for Willi Castro. Jonathan Schoop followed with an RBI double.
Then, after pinch-hitter Miguel Cabrera was walked intentionally, Francona summoned right-hander Enyel De Los Santos.
Eric Haase hit a hard ground ball that deflected off De Los Santos and ended up being the tying run-scoring force out at second.
But the winning run was stranded at third base.
The Tigers went 1-6 on this brief homestand and are now 27 games under .500 (43-70). They scored two runs or less in four of the seven games. In the three losses to Cleveland, they struck out 39 times.
With the tying run on third base and one out in the bottom of the 10th, veteran reliever Bryan Shaw struck out Javier Baez and Harold Castro to end the game.
They were punched out seven times over 6 1/3 innings by struggling right-hander Zach Plesac, who came in with 10 losses and a 4.49 ERA.
Teams have been punishing Plesac’s low-90s four-seam fastball all season, hitting .324 and slugging .521 against it. The Tigers, though, who have struggled against any and all fastballs this season, couldn’t do much with it.
Of Plesac’s 100 pitches, 43 were four-seamers. The Tigers swung at 25, missed four, took five for called strikes and went 1 for 8 on the ones they put in play.
Tigers’ starter Garrett Hill did well to minimize the damage in his five innings, but he contributed to his own demise with two walks and two hit batsmen. He ended up being charged for three runs, two were unearned, one was well-earned — a solo home run to right field by Guardians’ leadoff hitter Steven Kwan.
Errors by shortstop Baez and third baseman Willi Castro led to the Guardians’ first two runs.
With runners at first and second and one out in the second inning, first baseman Harold Castro made a superb diving stop of a ground ball between first and second base. He threw from his knees to get the force at second.
Baez hurried his throw to first in hopes of completing a low-odds double-play and it was errant, allowing the runner to scored all the way from second base.
Baez booted a ground ball in the ninth, too, his American League-leading 19th error.
Few epitomize the frustration of the season more than Baez. The errors, most of them throwing errors, the wild swings at pitches out of the strike zone, the strikeouts. But occasionally he will flash his unique and dazzling skill set.
He saved a run in the sixth inning on a ball hit up the middle by rookie Tyler Freeman. Baez, moving lightning quick to his left, made a sliding pick of a tough in-between hop, got to his feet and made a strong throw to first. Very few shortstops can make that play — pure instinct and athleticism.
Then he came up in the bottom of the sixth and belted his 11th home run, locking on to one of Plesac’s pedestrian four-seam fastballs.
Up to that point, he was 4 for 23 in the homestand with nine strikeouts. He ended up with two hits Thursday and got robbed of a third hit by a diving play by Freeman in the bottom of the eighth with a runner at second.
So much talent, too little seen. Could be the tag line on the Tigers’ 2022 season.
