Detroit Suffers An Embarrassing Home Loss To Begin Series Against Milwaukee

Detroit Suffers An Embarrassing Home Loss To Begin Series Against Milwaukee

That game right there was everything right about the Milwaukee Brewers and everything wrong with the Detroit Tigers. Milwaukee has turned itself into one of the most consistent regular-season teams in this sport, and it’s because they have an identity that, in many ways, goes against Detroit. Their strengths exacerbate Detroit’s weaknesses, and we saw that on full display tonight.

The final line isn’t anything spectacular, but outside of one bad inning, Keider Montero was excellent. He retired the last 12 he faced, and I felt like if Detroit could’ve just kept Milwaukee at three, they would’ve had a legitimate shot. There was nothing wrong with Keider Montero's stuff tonight; it was just a lot of self-inflicted wounds. A walk, a defensive play that couldn’t be made, and then a broken-bat single that scored two runs. It’s nothing overly fancy, but it’s the kind of baseball that the Tigers are often unable to play.

When Milwaukee has a rally going, it’s almost a guarantee that they’re gonna get a few of those runs on the board. Detroit had a rally or two tonight, and it often ended in a strikeout or a double play. Baez comes in to face a pitcher who was just brought in the game, and he swings at the first pitch out of the zone. Matt Vierling took two pitches off the plate to get ahead 2–0 in the count and then grounded into a double play on a sinker that was well inside. I don’t know what the rest of the series is going to look like, but Milwaukee's swing decisions tonight were simply better than Detroit's. They played clean baseball.

I think an issue that currently exists with this ball club is the fact that if you’re not getting six or seven strong from your starting pitching, there’s not a whole lot that you can trust in middle relief right now. Emmanuel de Jesus, Drew Anderson, and Connor Seabold are classic Scott Harris projects that haven’t been able to make a throw to first, let alone consistently get guys out. This is one of the best starting pitching staffs in baseball, but it’s not a starting pitching staff that’s infallible. At some point, you’re going to need some help from your middle relievers, and the Tigers haven’t been able to find it.