Beautiful sunny day in Michigan. Kyle Lobstein gave us a chance to win, nearly reaching six innings on three runs. He gave up one run early, but we responded the bottom half of the inning on an Anthony Gose double.

It’s pretty much a dead horse now. But we’ll beat it one more time for Brad. “Leaving runners in scoring position with less than two outs is a no-no,” says Small Ball. And he’s one correct G.

A lack of proactivity haunted the Tigers again. Gose stayed at second with one out, then, on a Wild Pitch to Big Cat, he took third. If we’d have already worked him there, basically any number of ways with Kinsler batting behind him, he scores there.

Then, the dreaded triple play. It’s just a baseball play, an extension of the double play, which is what we’re setting ourselves up for when we don’t bunt with multiple men on base. Especially with the speed we had on the paths, this one was inexcusable.

Lobstein’s problems occurred with two outs. He’d be cruising, then over-try to be perfect finishing the last batter. One time, he literally walked the bases loaded after getting the first two out. Our defense helped him out then, and with a swift first inning double play.

Ultimately, the little things will make or break us. A two-out rally came back to haunt us in the 6th, where the Astros took a 3-2 lead. Our bullpen picked us up for three scoreless innings, giving us a chance.

Our manager substituted Gose, of both our RBIs, for Rajai Davis in the bottom of the 9th. He almost homered, but still, why take out our hottest hitter? And where was Davis all game? Tyler Collins is the pinch-hitter, not a DH.

So this is where we stand. We’re giving Ausmus till the all-star break to get it. SMALL BALL WINS in conjunction with all your power. Unless you want to lose in the first round again and crumble us with constant pressure situations.