Detroit Tigers: Exciting Saturday spoiled by disappointing end to weekend

The Detroit Tigers dropped their third series in a row after a brutal 12-2 loss on Sunday at the hands of the Minnesota Twins.

After Saturday’s 9-3 win over Minnesota for the Detroit Tigers, there may have been some hope that the team could earn its first series win of June, but Sunday would go quite differently than hoped. Following Saturday’s promising offensive showcase, the Detroit Tigers suffered another demoralizing double-digit run loss in Sunday’s series finale in the Motor City.

Saturday’s rare explosion of offense for the Tigers showed yet again just how up and down Detroit can be at the plate on any given day. Eight of Detroit’s nine starters in the batting order recorded a hit on Saturday, tying their season-high of 15 hits as a team.

On Sunday, however, hopes of walking away with a series victory over the current AL Central-leading Minnesota Twins faded rather quickly, as the Twins jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back, putting up 12 runs and 17 hits.

Sunday was particularly rough for Detroit Tigers starter Ryan Carpenter. In just 3.2 IP, the lefty surrendered eight earned runs on ten hits and took the losing decision, dropping his record to 1-3 through six starts.

Twins DH Nelson Cruz had quite the weekend at Comerica Park, hitting a home run in each game and tallying five RBI total for the weekend. Cruz now has 14 career home runs at Comerica Park, making it one of the most favorable ballparks that six-time All-Star has not called home in his 14 year MLB career.

Though pretty much the entire Tigers lineup was having some luck in the batter’s box on Saturday, it did not translate over to Sunday for most of the team. One guy who did have a somewhat successful Sunday at the plate was JaCoby Jones, who followed up a five-RBI performance on Saturday with another RBI on Sunday.

This isn’t the first time in 2019 that we’ve seen the Detroit Tigers follow up an exciting, explosive win with a complete dud of a loss, and it likely won’t be the last either. Saturday’s bullpen experiment seemed to go well, and JaCoby Jones is yet to cool down at the plate, so at least we have that to take away from this weekend.