Tigers swept by Diamondbacks, head home with 2-4 record: 'We're going to be fine'

PHOENIX — The math is simple: No runs, no wins.

The Detroit Tigers will come home to Comerica Park on Friday on a four-game losing streak after being swept at Chase Field by the Arizona Diamondbacks, losing the finale Wednesday, 1-0.

"What started out as a promising trip turned rough here," manager AJ Hinch said.

Going back to the series finale loss in San Diego, the Tigers scored runs in two of their last 35 innings.

They’ve been shut out twice in six games.

"A lot of guys in this clubhouse have been through multiple, multiple seasons and they know how the flow of a season goes," said Colt Keith, who is carrying a .962 OPS through six games. "I don't think anyone in here is panicking. We're pretty confident we're going to turn it around and get back on track."

On Wednesday, they were subdued for the first six innings by right-hander Zac Gallen, who effectively varied speeds with five pitches, ranging from 82 mph to 94 mph, and limited the Tigers to four hits.

Keith came within inches of tying the game in the third. With two outs, he launched a ball that seemed destined to clear the right-field wall. Instead, it caromed off the back of the wall and came back into play. Instead of a game-tying homer, it was a double.

"I spun it really well," he said. "It was 102 (mph off the bat) and I spun it. I thought it hit the back of the bullpen and came back, but I guess it hit the yellow line."

The Tigers’ next best chance to score came in the sixth. Rookie Kevin McGonigle (who had two hits) ripped one inside the bag at first and into the right-field corner. He sped into third base with a one-out triple.

Gleyber Torres followed and hit an 98-mph bullet right at first baseman Jose Fernandez. He fired to third to double up McGonigle who had strayed too far down the line.

"Today, if you had a few defensive players one foot in the other direction, we would've had a couple more hits to get things going," Keith said. "When we hit it good, we hit it right at people. We can definitely have better at-bats, but I'm not panicking at all. I feel like we're going to be fine."

To his point, the Tigers had an average exit velocity on balls in play against Gallen of 91 mph. They didn't score and barely threatened against three relievers — Taylor Clarke, Juan Morillo and Jonathan Loaisiga — they hit some loud outs against all three.

"We've got to get in the strike zone," Hinch said. "It's not just the balls we put in play and the at-bats as a whole. It's continuing to fight to stay in the strike zone. We have a lot of swings and a little bit of decent contact but not our best contact on balls that are on the margins or out of the strike zone."

It ended up being a rare loss on Tarik Skubal’s start day. The Tigers were 21-10 on the days he starts both in 2024 and last season.

He wasn’t his usual overpowering self against the Diamondbacks, at least not in terms of swings-and-misses (six) and strikeouts (three). But, like Casey Mize on Tuesday, he pitched plenty good enough to put the Tigers in position to win.

"Yeah, it doesn't really matter, we lost," said Skubal, who allowed one run in seven innings. "That's the goal of every game that I'm pitching, I want to win. It doesn't matter how it happens. Individually, fine, right? But it's a team game and we need to win."

He ran afoul of one of the hottest hitters in the game in the first inning. Lefty-swinging Corbin Carroll has been a wrecking ball in this series. He tripled and homered and knocked in four runs against Justin Verlander Monday. His two-run double Tuesday keyed the Diamondbacks’ six-run rally.

And against Skubal, he tomahawked an 0-2, 97-mph four-seamer at the top of the strike zone and sent it 410 feet into the seats in left-center. The ball left his bat at 106.8 mph. Skubal gave up one homer to a lefty and one on an 0-2 count the entire season last year.

"Great pitch," Skubal said. "I thought I executed it great. If you told me an 0-2 heater, that I'm going to execute it there 10 more times, I am going to put it there 10 more times. He's a really good hitter and he put a really good swing on it. Sometimes you have to tip your cap. It was one of those things. Unfortunately, it was the difference-maker in the game.

"But I don't think I'd take that pitch back by any means."

It ended up being the only smudge on Skubal’s ledger. Instead of punch-outs (three), his operating currency Wednesday was the ground ball. He induced nine ground-ball outs, including three double-play balls.

"I'm not sure it wasn't the usual Tarik," Hinch said. "This is a high-contact team and they put together really good at-bats and spoil some pitches. I think he got stronger as the game went on, that's for sure. The one pitch was high to Carroll just not higher than high and he hit a ball out of the ballpark. At the time you don't know that's going to be it for both sides."

Skubal said he came in knowing that punch-outs were going to be scarce.

"There's not a ton of guys that strikeout more than 24 percent against lefties," he said. "But with being said, you can go deep into a game and get outs. Not every out needs to be a strikeout. We turned three double-plays. I don't know what the exit velo was (88.4 mph), but it seemed to be low. That's what you are trying to do as a pitcher, too, suppress contact."

Bottom-line, he pitched too good to lose.

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