This is an unforgiving sport. And I don’t want to be out here handing moral victories to anybody. This is a result-oriented business, and sometimes that business is unfair. With that said, for a good chunk of this game, it felt like the Tigers were doing everything they needed to do to make up for some pretty devastating news about Tarik Skubal that came out earlier today. Ty Madden, as the bulk guy on this bullpen day, was absolutely incredible. You could not have asked for more from him. I honestly think that Detroit didn’t expect the length that he gave them, but the guy just kept making his pitches. It was really a remarkable performance, and it’s such a shame that it’ll get lost in the fold because of what happened after he was taken out.
I discussed it in the video, and I won’t repeat it here, but this team is banged up. They need people to step up. They got that from Ty Madden this evening. After that, you needed nine more outs, and right now, you simply don’t have the pitchers capable of getting those outs. Maybe Vanasco turns into something. It’s only his second outing with the big league club, but Emmanuel de Jesus is not a major league pitcher. And you look at the state of this bullpen right now, and unless you’re going to try to get nine outs from Kyle Finnegan, there’s really no answer at this point. If all was right in the world, Tarik Skubal would’ve gone six innings tonight, and then they could’ve turned it over to their high-leverage guys. Right now, outside of Finnegan, I would argue they don’t have any high-leverage guys. This is a problem that’s going to continue.
I don’t want to let the offense completely off the hook tonight, but you’re facing a good young pitcher in Peyton Tolle, and you got gifted two runs in this game. Against the pitcher like that, you could do a heck of a lot worse. I felt they were a little too aggressive early in the game, but they did everything they could to try to rally back following the rain delay. They got a big swing from Dillon Dingler, but they just needed one more. But that’s not why they lost. They lost this game because they’re injured. And that is often the most frustrating way to lose. You’re not playing with a full deck right now, and it’s going to be this way for a while.
Detroit needs a great Framber Valdez start more than ever. They’re going to need quality, and they’re going to need length from him tomorrow because this pitching staff is just depleted right now. He will be going up against the struggling Bryan Bello.