CLEVELAND — Before the game, manager AJ Hinch, still fighting off an illness, his voice still weakened, would not accept any offering of sympathy — for him or his scuffling, injury-wracked baseball team.
"We have to take all the bad mojo, the bad luck and bad vibes and get it out of the way and just try to beat the Guardians today," he said. "It is frustrating and it's easy to pile on and take it like we're a victim.
"We're not going to do that."
The Tigers played more like survivors than victims Sunday, snapping a three-game losing streak with a 4-2 win over the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field.
Rookie right-hander Alex Faedo survived a shaky, 29-pitch first inning and limited the Guardians to just two runs in 5.1 innings.
Faedo had already yielded an RBI single to Owen Miller in the first when he walked the dangerous Josh Naylor with one out to load the bases. But he did not flinch.
He struck out Franmil Reyes waving at three straight sliders out of the strike zone and then got Andres Gimenez to line out to left.
The only other damage against Faedo came in the fourth when Naylor unloaded on a 3-1 fastball and hit it 416 feet into the bullpen area in right-center.
He got some defensive help, too.
Daz Cameron, getting the start in center field, turned what appeared to be a game-flipping two-run home run by Amed Rosario in the fifth inning into an 8-4-3 double-play. Cameron made a perfectly-timed leap at the wall in right-center field and brought the ball back.
He made a quick throw to Jonathan Schoop whose relay to first doubled up Austin Hedges.
The Tigers also found a way to scratch out some runs Sunday against a pitcher who has had his way with them in recent years.
Right-hander Shane Bieber came in on a streak of five straight starts with at least 10 strikeouts — make it six straight starts. He struck out 10 again in seven innings.
But the lowest run-producing offense in baseball came to fight. Miguel Cabrera doubled home Robbie Grossman in the first inning. It was his 603rd career double, tying him with Cal Ripken, Jr., for 16th all-time.
Schoop walked and stole second base in the second inning. He scored on a two-out single by Cameron, his first of two hits.
Tucker Barnhart and Cameron singled to start the fifth inning, with Barnhart coming home after first baseman Naylor missed a grounder by Grossman. It was originally scored a single, but later changed – taking an RBI off the books for Grossman.
Base running miscues nullified a couple of more scoring opportunities against Bieber, too. Cameron was picked off first by catcher Hedges in the second inning. Grossman inexplicably broke for third on a ground ball hit directly at the shortstop and was thrown out — the first out of the third inning.
Cabrera then followed with a soft liner right at shortstop Andres Gimenez. Willi Castro broke off first and was doubled up easily.
Javier Báez, who came in hitting .205 with just two home runs and 11 RBIs, lined a cutter over the wall in right-center off reliever Bryan Shaw in the eighth inning, providing an extra layer of cushion.
Not that the Tigers' bullpen needed too much.
Lefty Andrew Chafin got four outs, two on a well-timed double-play in the seventh after he hit Gimenez with a 1-2 pitch. Alex Lange struck out three in 1.1 hitless innings.
That left it to Gregory Soto to close it out. He pitched a hitless ninth for his seventh save.
