Another extra inning loss

Tigers 5 Blue Jays 3 (11 innings)

So you know the baseball Gods are against you when Marcus Semien blows a short throw to first on what should have been the last out of the game. It is just hard to believe. The last out of the game, he is the infielder I’d want the ball to go to, and he just whiffs on it.

I don’t understand what has happened with the bats.

Drew Hutchison got crushed in his first start of the season and first MLB start since 2018. And yet, we can only get one unearned run against him. They only scored against him because the Tigers' third baseman, Jeimer Candelario, had a rather easy ground ball go straight through him.

When a pitcher enters a game with a 10.80 ERA and leaves with a 3.00 ERA, you know the bats didn’t do well.

We got a run in the eighth, when Corey Dickerson beat out an infield single, with one out. He got to second because he went on the pitch on a full-count ground ball by Alejandro Kirk on what would have been a double-play ball. Then, Lourdes Gurriel sliced one off to left field to bring in Dickerson.

We managed just 10 hits (8 singles and 2 doubles), 4 off Hutchison in his 4.1 innings. We only had 7 strikeouts, but there was a ton of soft contact.

Bo Bichette (who was stung by a bee during the game) and Lourdes had 3 hits each. Vlad had 2 walks, but went 0 for 4. Teoscar and Smith each went 0 for 5.

Steven Matz had an excellent start. The only bad moment was Miguel Cabrera’s 500th career home run. He allowed just 5 hits and no walks with 1 strikeout in 6 innings. The one strikeout is pretty low, but there wasn’t much for hard contact against him.

Trent Thornton pitched a nice seventh.

Trevor Richards had a clean eighth.

Adam Cimber got the first two outs of the ninth, but Willi Castro hit a ground-rule double. With a lefty batter up, Charlie went with lefty Taylor Saucedo. Cimber, being a sidearmer, has big splits.

Saucedo did the job, getting a very easy ground to Marcus Semien, but Semien whiffed on the throw, bouncing it to Vlad for an error allowing the tying run to score. He’s been so good at second base, I thought he had a shot at a Gold Glove, and he makes an error on a play I could have made.

On a day when a couple of our best relievers were unavailable, things went pretty much as well as you could have hoped until the error.

We had a shot at winning it in the bottom of the ninth. Bo singled with one out. Semien up with a chance to redeem himself, but he ground into a force at second, and then Vlad ground out as well.

Extra innings:

Tenth: Tigers Zack Short is the runner at second, and he has speed. Brad Hand in to pitch (I thought Saucedo would continue), not filling us with confidence. Derek Hill flied out to the track in right, moving the runner to third. Another fly ball scored him. A ground ball to Kevin Smith ended the inning. Smith made three very nice plays at third base with great throws.

Bottom of the tenth: Vlad is the Manfred Man. Gregory Soto in to pitch. Teoscar grounds to Short at short, who does a nice spin and throw, Vlad moves to third. Santiago Espinal is in as pinch-hitter for Corey Dickerson against the lefty. Alejandro Kirk goes to a full count and then hits a sac fly to tie the game. Gurriel slices another single to right, moving the winning run to third. Grichuk walks on a full count. Kevin Smith strikes out.

Top of the eleventh: Kirby Snead in to pitch. Robbie Grossman as the Manfred Man. He got Cabrera to strike out. Candelario flied out to right. But Daz Cameron doubled in Grossman. Willi Castro doubled to put us down by two. Conner Overton comes in. He gives up a walk, but gets out of the inning.

Bottom of the eleventh: Kevin Smith at second. Joe Jimenez pitching. Bo grounds out. Semien and Vlad struck out. That is the game.

Jays of the Day: Gurriel (.343 WPA), Espinal (.348, just for a walk), Matz (.222), Hand (.130), Overton (.127), Richards (.113), and Thornton (.092).

Suckage: Semien (-.134, plus the error), Smith (-.533, but some nice play at third), Vlad (-.456), and Snead (-.243).

Saucedo had the number too (-.237) but that was all on the Semien error.

We had 568 comments in the GameThread. I led us to soul-crushing defeat.