DETROIT — The Detroit Tigers have less than 24 hours to find an offense that can save their season.
Unfortunately for their chances in the American League Division Series, the Tigers have been looking for the last month without any success.
Detroit only managed one run on five hits in the first eight innings of their 8-4 loss to the Seattle Mariners, leaving them down 2-1 in the series and facing elimination.
“Tonight wasn’t easy,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “Especially with what (Logan) Gilbert was throwing up there. Not many fastballs and a lot of sliders and splits. We were swinging more and more as the game went on, and we had trouble putting together back-to-back at-bats that were productive.”
Gilbert allowed one run on four hits in six innings, striking out seven without issuing a walk.
“That was vintage Logan,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “He attacked the zone, he got into good counts and he let the split and the slider do his work for him.”
The Tigers scored three runs off Caleb Ferguson in the ninth to narrow the margin to four runs, but Wilson brought in closer Andrés Muñoz. He only needed to face two batters, getting a flyout and a game-ending double play.
“We’re facing really good arms and we haven’t strung together as many great at-bats as we would like,” Tigers leadoff hitter Kerry Carpenter said. “We have to tip our hat to some great pitching. We’ve got at least one more game to turn it around.”
That’s easier said than done for a team that is averaging fewer than three runs a game in the last four weeks.
The problems started with 16 games left in the regular season. On Sept. 11, having outscored the Yankees 23-3 in the previous two days, the Tigers lost 9-3.
They went 3-13 down the stretch, blowing what seemed like a safe AL Central lead to the Cleveland Guardians and only getting the final wild-card berth on a tiebreaker over the Houston Astros.
Things haven’t changed in October. The Tigers hit .218 in the AL Wild Card Series against the Guardians, scoring nine runs in three games but getting out of the series when Cleveland hit .178.
They only scored six runs in the first 28 innings against the Mariners before the meaningless late rally in Game 3.
“This is the hardest time of the year to hit,” Hinch said. “When you are facing high-end pitching in October, it is a grind. Obviously, their guys are talented and are exposing a little bit of the zone control we talk about all the time.”
The Tigers have struck out 68 times in six postseason games, and eight of their nine everyday hitters are averaging at least one strikeout a game.
That’s been a problem all year, though.
Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson, Detroit’s most dangerous hitters, have struck out 385 times between the regular season and playoffs. In the regular season, they combined for 67 homers and 189 RBIs, but they haven’t homered in the postseason and Torkelson has six of their seven RBIs.
The Tigers are starting to look timid at the plate. In the eighth inning, desperately needing a rally, Javier Báez and Carpenter took five straight strikes from Eduard Bazardo before Carpenter weakly waved at a third strike.
Bryce Miller, who went 4-6 with a 5.68 ERA in 18 starts, will be on the mound for Seattle. If the Tigers can’t take advantage of him, a once-promising season might be over.
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