Detroit Tigers: April Winners and Losers

Detroit Tigers baseball wraps up the first month of the season in Minnesota against the Twins. While the Tigers’ opponent has struggled, Detroit has largely had a successful April.

Detroit Tigers players shot out of the gate with six wins in the team’s first eight games. The Tigers notched wins over Wei-Yin Chen, Jose Fernandez, Luis Severino and Gerrit Cole during the eight-game stretch.

Those eight games also included four road wins in National League cities against both the Miami Marlins and Pittsburgh Pirates.

Following that stretch, the Tigers lost seven of nine. Those nine games included three-game sets in Houston and in Kansas City. All six games were close, but Detroit only came away with a pair of wins.

The Tigers returned home only to be swept by Cleveland. During the three-game series, the offense faltered. Detroit managed just five runs against the Indians.

Despite the losing stretch, Miguel Cabrera and company responded by taking three of four games against the Oakland Athletics. This was partly due to a reshuffling of the lineup by Brad Ausmus that saw J.D. Martinez moved to the second spot. Justin Upton dropped down in the order, taking his fellow outfielder’s place behind Victor Martinez.

The switch seems to be working. Detroit crushed Oakland pitching to the tune of 16 runs in 18 innings over the final two games against the A’s.

Ausmus has seen a number of players perform well, and a few players struggle. Here are the Detroit Tigers winners and losers from the month of April.