Detroit Tigers: Cleveland Dominating the Big Tigers Bats

It’s no secret that the Detroit Tigers have struggled against the Cleveland Indians. But, instead of putting all the blame on the Tigers starting pitching, there is some serious blame that goes on the big bats on the Tigers offense.

The Cleveland Indians starting pitching has completely dominated the big cats like Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez, Justin Upton, and Ian Kinsler.

When those four men and their bats are silenced, the Tigers become an easy team to defeat. The Indians have figured out how to do it.

In the previous series against Cleveland at Comerica Park, Cabrera was held to a batting average and slugging percentage of .167. This is a shocking statistic for a man who repeated hits over .300 on a seasonal basis.

Even worse, in the April series against The Tribe, Cabrera did not get one hit, literally. He had an ERA of .000. He only got on base once with a walk. Fortunately, in the May series, he did bat .300 and scored two runs.

When it comes to Ian Kinsler, the numbers are not pretty either. In the April series, he hit .167. In May, he dropped to a .154 batting average. And in June, he was back up to .167. Considering that Kinsler has a current batting average of .290 with an OPS of .890, there is no way the Tigers can win when the lead-off hitter is batting this poorly. Making matters worse, Kinsler did not get on base in the game on July 4.

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Victor Martinez has also been held to embarrassing numbers, but they have been better than Miggy’s and Kinsler’s. In the April series, V-Mart hit .273. In May, he hit a batting average of .250. And in June at home, he hit .167. These, too, are not the typical numbers for the DH wearing the Old English D.

During the July 4 game, Mike Napoli became the topic of conversation on social media. For comparison purposes, when he faced the Tigers pitching in April, his batting average was .154. This all changed in May, when he hit .364 with one home run and six RBIs. And in June, the power hitter earned a .273 batting average with one home run and two RBIs. On July 4, he went two for three with a home run and a double. So, yes, Napoli, on his own, has been overpowering. He’s hitting numbers that the Tigers usually hit. Put this perspective: Napoli has a season batting average of .237 with an OPS of .772.

Next: Zimmermann and Norris Injured at the Wrong Time

Until the Tigers can get their bats going, the Indians are going to continue beating up on our Comeback Cats.