Detroit Tigers, Game 24: One thing I loved, one thing I didn't

The News' Tony Paul gives his quick takes on the Tigers' 12-4 loss to the Brewers on Tuesday:

One thing I loved

It was a tough first couple of games in The Show for third baseman Hao-Yu Lee in Boston, but he got his first two major-league hits in Sunday's game.

Then he got his first hit at Comerica on Tuesday, and here's what I loved about that. It all started with his first at-bat, when he was blown away on three straight high fastballs by Brewers left-hander Kyle Harrison. He swung at all three, and looked overmatched. The next time up, in the fourth inning with two on and nobody out, he swung and missed at another high fastball on the first pitch, but then he laid off the next one upstairs.

Because he didn't offer at that one, Harrison then switched up the sequence and went with a fastball down in the zone, a much more manageable pitch for the hitter, and Lee was ready for it. He smacked it for a single that loaded the bases.

Small sample size so far for Lee, 23, who's up for the injured Zach McKinstry, and who knows the future holds. But becoming a useful or even a good major-leaguer is all about making adjustments. Lee made a nice one there.

Also, oh, Jake Rogers pitched a scoreless ninth inning, and even recorded a strikeout. That's cool.

One thing I didn't

The kid that can do no wrong ... well, newsflash, he actually did something wrong. And it's OK to say it. Kevin McGonigle is only 21, but he's an honest-to-goodness major-leaguer with a $150-million contract.

McGonigle made a bit of a mental error at shortstop in the second inning, when he took too much time on leadoff man Garrett Mitchell's modestly struck grounder up the middle. He didn't charge it, and didn't exactly hurry the throw, either. So, while the throw was strong, Mitchell ended up beating it out (he was originally called out, but the Brewers correctly challenged).

This Milwaukee team, built on contact and speed, isn't a team you can give extra outs to, as the Tigers learned this again in the ugly seventh and eighth innings, when the game was blown open.

And the next thing you knew, the Brewers had pecked away at Montero for three runs — without a single ball that had an exit velocity in the triple digits — in the second inning. Who knows how things would've played out that inning had Mitchell hadn't reached, but this much is certain: He shouldn't have reached.

Side note: It's been a bad little stretch defensively, on a whole, for the Tigers, who are back to .500 at 12-12.

Three stars

(Season total in parentheses)

▶ Tom Hur

▶ Kevin McGonigle — Some slippery defense, but it was another two-hit game. He's now reached safely in 19 consecutive starts, and in 22 of his 23 major-league games.

▶ Hao-Yu Lee (2)

Player of the game

▶ Keider Montero — He retired the last 12 batters he faced, after the second-inning fiasco, and has been pretty darn serviceable in four starts in Justin Verlander's absence. (By the way, here's a Verlander health update.)