…and he has to take the loss! C’mon, Tiger bats!!

Detroit squandered the gem of a performance, failing to score for Price in nine innings.

A first inning error put a Ray on base, who scored on a triple to the wall that Torii Hunter seemed too lackadaisical on. After that, our boy Price did not allow a fucking base runner: no more hits, no walks. He struck out nine in eight innings of work.

We had our chances, surely out playing Tampa Bay on the base paths. Two stand out:

A) Rajai Davis bats with no outs, two on. Partially his fault, mostly Brad Ausmus’. We tried one bunt, then gave up with only a strike on us. Davis hit into a double play, and no one scored.

B) Hunter leads off the inning with a double. Miguel Cabrera bats him to third, one out. Victor Martinez is intentionally walked, bringing up his brother J.D. It was clear Tampa was trying for the double play. Each pitch was low, an attempt to get a ground ball. J.D. refused to lay off the pitch, struggling throughout the count as it eventually became full.

Then, Victor took second on a bad pitch, removing the double play opportunity. So, the Rays are obviously going to give J.D. the open first base. They threw him another low one,  and “Tiger Woods” just had to golf at it, swinging and missing, costing us an easy run.

I tried to stay positive yesterday, but we all got too caught up in the grand slam to address the lack of successful small ball going on the rest of the game. Want it to change or want to lose, guys? Andrew Romine goes 0-4 yesterday, striking out every time. Twice on a called strike three looking. Why he replaced Eugenio Suarez late is this one is beyond me.

I heard Victor say in an interview today that some nights he stays up all night because he wants to win so badly, and he wants the Tigers to win so passionately. I stay up thinking about that, too. This means everything to us, and I refuse to let us sit there and squander the prime of player’s like V and Cabrera. Make the adjustment, Detroit.