Finding Three Stars Despite Tigers' Crushing 5-4 Loss to Kansas City

It was another roller coaster for Tigers fans Sunday afternoon, and unfortunately, this ride ended in heartbreak.

After another shaky beginning from Framber Valdez, the Tigers' bats finally came alive in one inning, erasing an early deficit and taking the lead, all for naught as Detroit's bullpen blew another late-game lead.

The Tigers dropped to 50-56 on the season and remain 3.5 games back of the final Wild Card spot after the Cleveland Guardians also lost Sunday. However, they slipped to 6.5 games behind the division-leading Chicago White Sox, who picked up a win.

Still, despite the roller-coaster finish, three Tigers were deserving of a star, so let's get into it.

Batting out of the seven spot in the lineup, Torkelson once again delivered with both his bat and his patience at the plate.

He finished 1-for-2 with two huge walks early in the game. Unfortunately, despite reaching base three times, Torkelson never came around to score. Even so, his strike-zone discipline has continued to improve since June, and it showed again Sunday.

Although Greene finished the day hitless, his lone trip on base turned into one of the biggest moments of the game.

With the bases loaded and one out in the fifth inning, Greene hit a routine ground ball up the middle, but miscommunication between Kansas City's middle infielders allowed the ball to trickle into center field. Hao-Yu Lee and Colt Keith both scored, Kevin McGonigle advanced to third, and Greene reached second on the error. Greene later came home to give Detroit a 4-3 lead.

Then came the ninth.

With two outs, two runners on, and Detroit trailing by one, the All-Star stepped to the plate looking to deliver another clutch moment. After battling through several tough pitches, Greene was finally retired on a cutter for the game's final out.

Dingler was Detroit's most productive hitter Sunday.

He drew the Tigers' first walk of the afternoon in the second inning before being stranded, then singled in the fourth, only to be left on base again.

His biggest swing came in the fifth.

With Detroit trailing 3-0, Dingler ripped a two-run single that scored McGonigle and Greene to give the Tigers a 4-3 lead. At the time, it looked like it would stand as the game-winning RBI before the bullpen surrendered the lead late.

Dingler continues to come through with emotionless, machine-like hits, improving his batting average to .275 after finishing 2-for-3 with two RBIs.

After the worst start of his professional career, all eyes were on Valdez entering Sunday's series finale.

It didn't start well.

Lane Thomas crushed a leadoff sinker over the right-field wall to give Kansas City an immediate 1-0 lead.

Valdez then surrendered a single, hit the next batter, and issued a walk to load the bases with two outs.

He induced the inning-ending ground ball he needed, but Hao-Yu Lee couldn't handle it, allowing everyone to advance 90 feet as Kansas City extended its lead to 2-0 before the inning finally came to an end.

To Valdez's credit, he settled in nicely after that, retiring the next eight hitters.

A fourth-inning double after a one-out walk pushed another run across, making it 3-0.

Once Detroit rallied to take a 4-3 lead in the fifth, Valdez was in line for the win before the bullpen let it slip away.

His final line: 5.0 innings, four hits, three runs (two earned), four walks, and three strikeouts.

The walk-to-strikeout ratio isn't pretty, but considering where things started, this was an encouraging bounce-back performance.

The talk of the town lately, Lee had a rough defensive moment in the first inning but quickly bounced back.

Outman had runners on first and second with two outs in each of his first two at-bats but failed to deliver either time.

Although he added a single in the sixth inning, Detroit fans are beginning to grow impatient with his .162 batting average despite his occasional clutch home runs.

After replacing Kerry Carpenter in the fifth inning, the very first ball hit his way resulted in a fantastic diving catch for the inning's first out.

Torres had two huge opportunities.

In the fifth, he struck out swinging with the bases loaded and nobody out.

Then, in the ninth, with two runners on and one out while trailing by one, he once again came up empty, stranding more runners.

McKinstry drew a walk in the eighth inning but was thrown out trying to advance from first to third on Spencer Torkelson's single.

The aggressive baserunning simply hasn't worked for him this season, and Sunday was another example.

With two outs in the eighth and a runner on first, Michael Massey crushed a two-run homer to right field, flipping the game back in Kansas City's favor, 5-4.

Another game.

Another bullpen collapse.

Carpenter exited after the fourth inning because of a foot injury.

The Tigers finished the season series against Kansas City with a 2-2 split after winning the first two games before dropping the final two by a combined two runs.

Still, there are no moral victories in baseball.

With 55 games remaining, every contest is going to feel like a Game 7 for Tigers fans.