If Saturday's loss was an "absolute punch to the face" for A.J. Hinch and the Tigers, Sunday's 6-2 defeat felt like taking another kick while they're down. That's six losses in a row and nine out of 10 for the Tigers, who are hanging by a thread in the AL Central.
The Tigers mustered plenty of base-runners Sunday against the Braves, but failed to score until the game was out of reach in the ninth. They wound up going 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position and left 13 men on base.
"We’re trying our best to find solutions and not just complain about what is going on," said Hinch. "And today we gave ourselves so many chances to break through and then couldn’t quite hold the strike zone when we needed it the most. And they chipped away and came up with some big swings. It’s rough going, but we have the most important road trip of the season staring us right in the face."
That starts Tuesday against the Guardians, who had their 10-game win streak snapped Sunday in Minnesota to preserve the Tigers' 1.0-game lead atop the division. From there, the Tigers go to Boston for what could be a do-or-die series against the Red Sox for one of the final wild card spots in the AL.
"We can handle it because we have a good team," said Hinch. "I know we have to demonstrate it and we need to finish the game that we start, and the only thing that we can do is play the schedule. I know everyone has to be tired of the same answers and we’re tired of the same results. I get it, it’s a part of sports. You do everything you can to get a win and right now it feels like it’s eluding us in so many different ways.
"But exciting week of baseball ahead and the biggest challenge this team has faced."
Casey Mize gave the Tigers a solid effort Sunday, allowing three runs in 5 2/3 innings. But it wasn't enough with their hitters frozen in big spots. Hinch said he sees his team "pressing" at the plate: "Trying to do a little bit too much is easy to say when we start expanding the zone ... and missing the biggest at-bats. Is that mental? Is that physical? It’s baseball, I get it."
"But I don’t see our guys quitting," he said. "I don’t see our guys down, I don’t see our guys pouting, I don’t see our guys conceding. And we shouldn’t."
The Tigers were 25 games over .500 less than a month ago, and looked like a lock to win the Central for the first time since 2014 and claim one of the top two seeds in the AL and a bye to the divisional round. They have lost 18 of 25 since. If the season ended today, the Tigers would be forced to play a best-of-three series in the wild card round.
But it ends next Sunday. Getting from here to there without surrendering the division and potentially falling out of the playoffs is no easy task. On the bright side, the Tigers have Tarik Skubal lined up to pitch Tuesday in Cleveland and potentially Sunday in Boston should they need him.
"I’m going to remind everybody that we’re a first-place team, and right now it’s hard for everybody to look at us that way because of the way the last week went," said Hinch. "We’re going to wake up tomorrow in first place. With our destiny controlled by us, against a team that’s been as hot as you can get in baseball. And we get to play them in a three-game series. Sign me up."