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Things have not gone smoothly at all for the Detroit Tigers since coming out of the All-Star break. They've been frigid on all facets of the ball, and they've won just one out of the six games they've had since the break heading into their Thursday night ballgame against the surging Toronto Blue Jays. Alas, it seems like the Tigers will have to stew in their misery a bit more, as a bad inning from starting pitcher Reese Olson played a huge part in their eventual 11-4 defeat to the AL East leader.
Through the first five innings on Thursday, it did look as though Olson had everything under control. He allowed just three baserunners (all on singles) as the Tigers protected a one-run lead. But in the sixth inning, everything went off the rails for the 25-year-old starter. He allowed five runs in the inning – one on a double from Vladimir Guerrero Jr., three on a dinger from Ernie Clement, and another one on another long ball, this time from Joey Loperfido.
The Tigers are slumping so hard at the moment, and they have looked like a shell of their early-season selves through the first seven games following the All-Star break. Nonetheless, they are not hitting the panic button just yet, with Olson being resolute in his belief that they have a much better team than what they've been showing over the past week.
“We obviously have 100% belief in ourselves still. We're a good team. Up until the All-Star break, we were the best team in baseball. We believe that's who we are. We're a good team,” Olson said following the Tigers' defeat, per Evan Petzold of Detroit Free Press.
Tigers face (potential) season-defining stretch
The Tigers have a young squad, and they managed to build quite nicely off of their surprise playoff run last season. They headed into the All-Star break with a 59-38 record — which was the best in MLB at the time. But the wheels are starting to fall off for Detroit and they seem to be crashing down to earth.
They have three more games in their current series against the Blue Jays, and that will end up testing this team's resolve even further. But even with this latest slump, the Tigers have shown that they're capable of playing consistent winning baseball, so perhaps an addition or two prior to the trade deadline could work wonders for this nascent ballclub.
