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The Detroit Tigers came into Monday night's game against the St. Louis Cardinals with the best record in baseball. Detroit was 31-16 and cruising through the schedule. However, the Cardinals ended up completely dominating the Tigers to earn an 11-4 win.
All four runs by Detroit came in the final two innings, and three came in the ninth. It was an all-around ugly performance by the Tigers, and now manager AJ Hinch and his team will look to turn the page.
Sonny Gray got the start on the mound for the Cardinals, and he was dominant. He lasted six innings and gave up zero runs on just six hits while striking out 10 and walking one.
“We didn't hold the zone,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said, according to an article from The Detroit News. “We didn't play good baseball and they did; we punched out double-digits. It was a hard night for us. But there is no way we can blame anything other than Sonny Gray really exposed the fact we didn't hold the zone and the game ended up how it was.”
This one ended up getting out of hand in the fifth inning when the Cardinals extended the lead to five. After that, AJ Hinch had to start thinking about the rest of the series.
“At the beginning of the game, no,” Hinch said. “We try to win every game and we didn't. … As the game went on and things got out of hand, of course you manage for tomorrow and the next day. But going into the game, there is nothing on our minds more than today's game.”
Keider Montero didn't get the start, but he did come in with just one out in the first inning as the Tigers used reliever Sean Guenter as an opener. Montero pitched 5.2 innings and gave up five earned runs.
“This is a business where you have good days and you have bad days,” Montero said after the game. “Today was not a good one. But from every error and every mistake you learn. I'm taking positive things from this outing and I am thanking God that I am healthy.”
With the offense struggling and the Tigers facing a big deficit, Hinch didn't want to use arms that will be needed during the rest of the series. He let Keider Montero do the work.
“We were down 5-0, so we're not going to burn though pitchers down 5-0,” Hinch said. “And we were doing nothing offensively. It wasn't a great night for us to try to push. Keider did a good job of hanging in there.”
Another factor was the weather. There was a long rain delay during this game, and Hinch thought that it would be best to keep Montero on the mound until that was over.
“I sent him back out because the weather was coming,” Hinch said. “That was more on them not calling for the tarp and I didn't want to burn anybody else before the rain delay. We knew it was coming around 8:45 (CT).”
The Tigers will look to bounce back from that ugly loss on Tuesday, and with ace Tarik Skubal on the mound, they have a good shot at doing so. The two teams will get underway at 6:45 CT from Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The Tigers and Cardinals will get together on Wednesday as well for Game 3.
