Tigers Claim First Series Win vs. Indians Since September 2018
You’d have to travel back in time 707 days to find the last time that the Tigers won a series against the Cleveland Indians. September 14-16 of 2018 was a three-day stretch that Tigers fans stored away in their memories, hoping the result would eventually be replicated.
This weekend began with a Friday night win for the Tigers that snapped a streak of 20 consecutive losses against Cleveland, and it ended with a 7-4 win at Progressive Field to take two of three from the Tribe.
The early bird gets the worm
The Tigers are now 7-1 when scoring a run in the first inning this season with the lone loss coming last night. Detroit began the afternoon by utilizing the lost art of small ball to bring home Victor Reyes for a 1-0 lead. A Willi Castro sacrifice bunt to move Reyes to third base, followed by a Miguel Cabrera sacrifice fly did the trick.
The Tigers played from behind in each of the four games that they lost to the White Sox earlier this week in Chicago. With the exception of Friday’s dramatic come from behind win, Detroit was able to turn the trend around this weekend by giving their pitching staff a lead to work with in two out of three games vs. the Indians.
Tarik Skubal promptly gave up the 1-0 advantage after allowing his second leadoff homer in as many career starts. Skubal ultimately reached 69 pitches and held the Indians to one run in the two ⅓ innings of work on Sunday afternoon.
More often than not, he found himself locking horns with Cleveland’s stingy lineup, racking up 17 foul balls in several arduous at-bats. The Tigers’ No. 5 prospect would’ve certainly desired to lower the number of pitches, considering he had a pitch-count heading into the afternoon. Still, there were positive takeaways from his second outing.
“I think I did a better job of competing,’’ Skubal said. “I feel like I pitched with more intent and more focus.’’
Four of the five batters that Skubal struck out fell victim to his four-seam fastball that touched 97, drawing seven swings and misses.
“Yeah, I just felt like I was throwing it with more conviction,’’ he said. “Throwing it more aggressively. I didn’t try to guide it as much and it had more life.’’
Lucky No. 4
Evidently, the Tigers had a predilection for the fourth inning this weekend, scoring seven runs and hitting four home runs when you combine all three fourth innings for Detroit in the three-game series.
After reluctantly taking Saturday off, Niko Goodrum returned to the lineup on Sunday with a literal bang. He led off what turned out to be a loud fourth inning for the Tigers with a leadoff home run to right field.
Two pitches later, Jacoby Jones hit a double and Jorge Bonifacio followed with a two-run home run to deep left-center field to register both his first hit and homer as a Tiger.
After just three hits in all of yesterday’s 6-1 loss, the Tigers plated three runs, four extra-base hits, and two home runs in the fourth inning alone on Sunday.
Happy Endings
The Indians scored all six of their runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings of Saturday night’s matchup after the Tigers led 1-0.
Despite a ninth-inning scare in the form of Greg Allen’s three-run home run off an 0-1 fastball from Joe Jiminez, the Tigers (11-15) managed to piece together a clean enough bullpen performance to win the game.
Daniel Norris (2-1) took the win after three ⅔ innings of perhaps his best work of the 2020 campaign.
“When you get a pitcher out there who’s banging it in there and working quick, that’s when everyone relaxes on the offensive side,’’ manager Ron Gardenhire said. “Daniel gave us a great opportunity. Great pick-em-up by Daniel.’’
The Tigers will return to the comfort of Comerica Park on Monday to square off with the NL Central-leading Chicago Cubs for a three-game series.
