The Detroit Tigers head to Citi Field this week trying to turn one win into something more.
After snapping a five-game losing streak Sunday night in Kansas City, Detroit opens a three-game road series against the New York Mets on Tuesday. The Tigers enter the series at 19-22, still trying to stay close enough in the American League Central while injuries continue to test their roster depth.
The series begins with Jack Flaherty on the mound for Detroit against Mets right-hander Freddy Peralta. Flaherty enters at 0-3 with a 5.56 ERA, but his last start offered some needed signs of improvement even though the Tigers’ offense did not do enough behind him. For Detroit, getting length from Flaherty would matter beyond the opener. The Tigers have been forced to piece together innings because of injuries to the rotation, and that has made every clean start more important.
That rotation picture became more complicated with Tarik Skubal undergoing surgery to remove loose bodies from his left elbow. The Tigers received encouraging news after the procedure, with manager A.J. Hinch saying the surgery went well and that the team viewed the outcome positively. Still, Skubal is expected to miss an extended period, and Detroit will have to move forward without its best starter for now.
The Tigers finally got a needed lift Sunday when Gage Workman hit his first major league home run in a 6-3 win over the Royals. Workman joined Hao-Yu Lee and Kevin McGonigle among recent Tigers prospects to make an immediate impact with a home run in their major league debut.
Detroit will need more than one swing in New York.
The Tigers have been without Kerry Carpenter, who went on the injured list with a shoulder issue, taking one of their more important left-handed bats out of the lineup. That puts more pressure on Riley Greene, Spencer Torkelson, Dillon Dingler, Colt Keith and the rest of the order to create offense against a Mets team that has had its own issues.
New York enters the series trying to stabilize after a difficult stretch. The Mets have dealt with injuries and offensive inconsistency, and their lineup has not produced at the level expected from a club built to contend. Francisco Lindor’s health remains a major storyline, and New York has needed others to carry more of the offensive responsibility.
For Detroit, the opportunity is clear. The Mets are vulnerable, but the Tigers are not in a position to assume anything. Their recent skid showed how quickly small mistakes can stack up. Defensive miscues, short starts and quiet innings have all played a part in Detroit’s uneven start.
The Tigers do not need to dominate the series to leave New York feeling better about themselves. They need to play cleaner baseball, get usable innings from the rotation and avoid putting the bullpen in trouble by the middle innings.
The series finale could follow a similar theme. Detroit’s ability to get through the three games without exhausting its bullpen may matter as much as the final score in one specific game.
Citi Field is not always an easy place to generate offense, which puts added value on baserunners, situational hitting and avoiding wasted scoring chances. The Tigers have had stretches where they controlled the strike zone well enough to create traffic, but they have also had too many games where the offense waited for one big swing that never came.
After a rough week, that would be a good start.
Follow me on "X" @rogcastbaseball