The Detroit Tigers come back to Comerica Park with their best stretch of baseball in weeks behind them and a six-game homestand ahead before the All-Star break. After taking five of six on the road against the Yankees and Rangers, Detroit opens a three-game series against the Athletics on Tuesday night with a chance to keep turning a frustrating season into something more competitive before the trade deadline conversation gets louder.
The road trip gave the Tigers a cleaner version of what they have been trying to build. They swept the Yankees in New York, their first road sweep of the Yankees since 2008, then took two of three from the Rangers in Arlington. Sunday’s 6-3 win over Texas finished the trip at 5-1, with Riley Greene driving the offense, Kevin McGonigle adding two hits and Casey Mize giving Detroit 6 2/3 innings of two-run baseball.
The timing matters because the Tigers are still in a position where every series has to be treated as part of a larger evaluation. They enter the series 40-50, while the Athletics arrive at 41-49. Detroit is still below .500, but the gap between where the Tigers were at the end of May and where they are now is noticeable. Since June 1, they are 18-12, the best record in the American League over that span, according to MLB.com.
Greene is the clearest offensive focal point coming into the series. He went 3-for-4 with four RBIs on Sunday and finished a double shy of the cycle. Over the six-game road trip, Greene hit .400 with a double, a triple, four home runs and 10 RBIs. That production is coming at the same time Greene, Dillon Dingler and McGonigle were named American League All-Stars, giving Detroit three position-player representatives and more evidence that the core of the roster is being driven by homegrown talent.
The Tigers will also get a good test of whether their rotation can keep controlling games. Tuesday’s opener has Tarik Skubal against J.T. Ginn. Skubal enters at 4-4 with a 3.15 ERA, while Ginn comes in at 7-4 with a 3.04 ERA. Skubal’s last start was his sharpest since returning from the injured list, as he held the Yankees to one earned run on one hit over six innings, struck out nine and did not issue a walk.
The rest of the series lines up well enough for Detroit to expect competitive starts. Wednesday is scheduled to be Jeffrey Springs against Troy Melton, with Springs carrying a 3-8 record and 5.79 ERA while Melton enters at 4-1 with a 2.05 ERA. Thursday has Jack Perkins, 2-4 with a 6.75 ERA, against Framber Valdez, who is 4-6 with a 4.29 ERA.
That gives the Tigers a clear path in this series: get length from the starters, continue to get traffic on the bases ahead of Greene, Dingler and the middle of the order, and avoid turning games over to the bullpen too early. The bullpen is still the area that keeps any optimism in check. Detroit has found different ways to survive late innings recently, including Keider Montero’s work in the Yankees series and Kenley Jansen closing out Sunday’s win, but the group has not earned full trust across multiple weeks.
The Athletics enter Detroit coming off a rough series of their own. Miami completed a three-game sweep of the A’s on Sunday, though Oakland made the final score close after falling behind 8-0. Jonah Heim hit a grand slam and drove in six runs, but the rally fell short in a 9-8 loss. The larger issue for the Athletics has been pitching. They have lost seven of their last eight games, and their staff allowed 55 runs in those seven losses.
The Tigers are still working from behind in the standings, and one strong road trip does not change the entire season. What it does change is the tone heading into the final week before the All-Star break. The team looks healthier in the rotation, the offense has more consistent pressure points, and the young core is no longer being discussed only in future terms.
Against the Athletics, the Tigers have a chance to make the road trip look less like a short surge and more like the beginning of a real July push.
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