DETROIT — Baseball has an odd way of sorting things out sometimes.
The Tigers ended a couple of aggravating streaks in the first of two games against the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday. First, the 6-0 victory snapped a six-game losing streak. Second, the two runs they scored in the fifth inning ended a streak of 28 straight scoreless frames.
But the way the Tigers ended the scoring drought made you think the Baseball Gods were having a little fun with it. And why wouldn’t they in a game where the Tigers were the visiting team in their own ballpark?
This game, originally scheduled to be played as part of a three-game set in Oakland, was erased by the lockout and added back into the schedule. The other two games will be played in a doubleheader in Oakland after the All-Star break.
During the scoring drought, the Tigers hit a bunch of balls on the nose that ended up as outs. Jonathan Schoop hit four bullets with runners in scoring position that ended up finding glove and not green.
So guess how the skid finally came to an end? With a walk, a bloop and a bunt, the runs scoring on outs. Why not?
Schoop, whose walk rate is among the league’s lowest (3.8%), walked to start the fifth. Willi Castro blooped a single into shallow left. Left fielder Chad Pinder and shortstop Elvis Andrus collided while chasing the ball. Both stayed on the ground for several minutes. It looked like Andrus’ knee or foot caught Pinder in the face. Both remained in the game.
(Quick side: Castro blooped one in the same spot in the sixth inning. Pinder and Andrus converged again. This time both backed off and the ball fell in.)
Back to the inning: Tucker Barnhart followed with a bunt between the mound and third. Neither pitcher Frankie Montas nor third baseman Kevin Smith pursued the ball – single, bases loaded.
Derek Hill hit a long sacrifice fly to center to score the first run since the third inning Saturday night. Robbie Grossman’s fielder’s choice ground out to second scored Castro.
At that point, the Tigers still hadn’t knocked in a run with a base hit since Miguel Cabrera’s two-run double in Houston on Saturday night. They hadn’t hit a home run since Cabrera’s in Los Angeles on May 1.
That all stopped when Schoop lofted a sloppy slider from Montas inside the foul pole in left field in the seventh inning. It was his second homer of the season and a just reward for enduring a stretch where 12 balls struck with exit velocities of 92.6 mph our better went unrewarded with hits.
The Tigers doubled down on those three runs in the seventh. Jeimer Candelario drove a bases-loaded double into the gap in left-center field off lefty reliever Kirby Snead, scoring all three runners.
Candelario had three hits.
Lefty starter Tarik Skubal was happy for the support, though he didn’t need more than a run. He limited the Athletics to three hits over seven shutout innings. Throwing his sinker and four-seam fastballs off a lively slider, he struck out five and didn’t pitch in much distress all day.
He's the first Tigers starter to complete seven innings this season.
He ended his day with a heads-up defensive play to start a wild inning-ending double play. Kevin Smith was on second after his bloop fell in front of center fielder Hill. Andrus hit one right back at Skubal who had Smith trapped off second.
Skubal threw it to shortstop Javier Baez. Baez threw it Candelario at third who tagged out Smith. Then Candelario threw quickly to second to get Andrus. You’re every day 1-6-5-4 double-play.
