As the Detroit Tigers were swept by the Cleveland Guardians, it sets up not just a slump for the team, but also an interesting race for the AL Central. With the Tigers in a tight divisional race, as there are nine games left in the season, the first step back to success is acceptance, as manager A.J. Hinch speaks on the recent series with the Guardians.
Comparatively, Detroit is up 3.5 games over Cleveland, making the series a crucial one for the latter to get back into, which is exactly what they did. Hinch did not hold back in how they lost, saying that the team “got our a** kicked in pretty much every aspect,” according to The Athletic.
“We got our a** kicked in pretty much every aspect, and they swept us,” Hinch said.
“Obviously, in the big picture, it’s very disappointing,” Hinch continued. “We come every day to win, and we like winning series, and we know how important these games are. We got some work ahead of us to do this right.”
While the team doesn't want to be in this situation, it could prove beneficial in the long run to experience the lows now and work to get back to the highs.
“It’s just being honest,” Hinch said. “Looking in the mirror.”
Tarik Skubal on the Tigers' woes
Although the Tigers' ace in Tarik Skubal reached a career-high in strikeouts against the Guardians, throwing nine to bring his season total to 233, his start still resulted in the team losing 3-1. Subsequently, the star pitcher currently has a 2.23 ERA in 30 starts, with his message being for the team “to move on,” and the simple cure to their woes is winning games.
“We just got to move on,” Skubal said. “We got to move on and start playing a better brand of baseball, we can't take anything back that's already happened, we can't go back in time. Just focus on tomorrow and try to win a ballgame.”
“We're just not winning. Winning cures everything. It really does,” Skubal continued. “We're just not winning, and that's just part of the game. We need to play better baseball — hitting, pitching, defense, all that stuff probably needs to be a little bit better.”
Consequently, Detroit starts a three-game series against the Atlanta Braves on Friday evening and will face the Guardians again in the series, which should have AL Central implications.
