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The Detroit Tigers entered the All-Star Break on a three-game losing streak, but kept the best record in the American League. They started the second half with two more losses to the Texas Rangers, extending the streak to six. Still, they are 59-40, the best team in the AL heading into Sunday Night Baseball. Tigers manager AJ Hinch told Dave Sessions of MLB.com that he is not concerned about the slide.
“I don't really think our guys think about streaks either way,” Hinch said after Friday's loss pushed the streak to five. They went on to lose on Saturday for a sixth loss in a row. “We will bounce back, and we're going to be fine. We've got to play a little bit better and make the right pitches and make the plays and put up a little bit of offense, and what we’ve done for 90-plus games.”
Pitching has been an issue for the Tigers during their slide. Tarik Skubal allowed four runs for just the fourth time this season in a 12-3 loss to the Seattle Mariners. That was the first of three losses to Seattle that sent them into the break. Coming out of the break, they have dropped a series to the Rangers. Skubal heads back to the mound for Sunday night's series finale.
The Tigers are 10.5 games ahead of the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central heading into Sunday's game. That is the largest division lead in baseball, giving them some cushion to go through a slide. Detroit has done that just in time to fix its flaws at the MLB trade deadline.
The Tigers should be pushing for a starting pitcher and an infielder at the deadline. They have the top-ranked prospect pipeline in the entire league, according to MLB.com, making them big candidates to buy.
