3 encouraging signs from the Detroit Tigers' sweep of the Orioles

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The Detroit Tigers swept the Baltimore Orioles this weekend, where they started to play much better baseball. It was their first series sweep of the season.

The Tigers have needed a stretch where they looked like a competent baseball team, no matter the length. While there are still plenty of things this team needs to work on, this weekend sweep of Baltimore was nice to see.

They gave up just three runs the whole series, which included 7.2 scoreless innings from the bullpen on Saturday after Michael Pineda left the game after being struck in his right middle finger by a line drive.

Michael Pineda salió de juego tras recibir línea de Ramón Urías.😶 pic.twitter.com/HNNXIusI7B
— El Fildeo ⚾️🔥 ´tamos ready (@elfildeo) May 15, 2022

The offense had some welcome sights as well. It was nice to see the team start to drive the ball a bit more.

So without further ado, here are three encouraging signs from the Detroit Tigers’ three-game sweep of the Orioles.

DETROIT, MICHIGAN – MAY 15: Tarik Skubal #29 of the Detroit Tigers talks with Tucker Barnhart #15 of the Detroit Tigers against the Baltimore Orioles during the top of the sixth inning at Comerica Park on May 15, 2022 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images) /

E-rod and Tarik Skubal shoved

Eduardo Rodriguez has had an up-and-down start to his Detroit Tigers’ career. But his last two starts have been more what we were expecting when he signed that five-year, $77 million deal in the offseason. After 6.2 innings of one-run ball against the Houston Astros in last outing, E-rod one-upped that with 6.2 innings of scoreless baseball Friday night.

He’s starting to command his fastball better and hasn’t been nibbling as much. His ERA is down to 3.72. Hopefully he can keep this up.

Tarik Skubal on the other hand, continued his dominance this season with six scoreless innings on Sunday, tying a career high with 11 strikeouts. Skubal had wanted to go deeper into games as far as pitch count, and he got to the century mark on Sunday.

Tarik Skubal has wanted A.J. Hinch to let him go deeper into games.

Hinch gave Skubal the chance there after two walks in the sixth, and he got out of it like a pro.

Skubal tied a career high with 11 strikeouts, at 100 pitches.
— Cody Stavenhagen (@CodyStavenhagen) May 15, 2022

He’s been going right after guys and mixing his pitches effectively. It’s safe to say that he is blossoming into an ace.

DETROIT, MICHIGAN – MAY 14: Gregory Soto #65 of the Detroit Tigers reacts to closing out the game against the Baltimore Orioles during the top of the ninth inning at Comerica Park on May 14, 2022 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images) /

2. The bullpen is still (mostly) good

The Detroit Tigers’ bullpen continues to be a bright spot on this team. As previously mentioned, they pitched 7.2 innings of scoreless ball in relief of an injured Michael Pineda. Wily Peralta, Jason Foley, Joe Jimenez, Andrew Chafin, and Gregory Soto all pitched well in the effort.

It wasn’t always pretty, however. Jacob Barnes’ lack of swing-and-miss stuff finally caught to him Friday night, as he gave up back-to-back home runs on back-to-back pitches. He did bounce back with a scoreless inning on Sunday, though.

Gregory Soto’s struggles continued Friday night as well, walking one and plunking two to load the bases. Will Vest came in and bailed him out with two strikeouts to secure the win. Thankfully, he went right back out there on Saturday and pitched a scoreless ninth for the save.

In a season full of negatives, the bullpen continues to be a surprising positive.

DETROIT, MICHIGAN – MAY 13: Miguel Cabrera #24 of the Detroit Tigers hits a RBI double in the third inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Comerica Park on May 13, 2022 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Mike Mulholland/Getty Images) /

3. The offense finally showed signs of life

What a welcome sight this weekend was for the bats. Coming into the series, they had just 12 homers as a team this season. They hit four in this series, hitting at least one in every game.

The team started to drive the ball more. Miguel Cabrera had a monster series, going 6-for-9 with four extra-base hits, including two home runs. The other homers belonged to Eric Haase and Willi Castro, respectively. Castro has had a nice stretch as of late, although his .359 BABIP suggests he is getting very lucky.

The hits were timely as well, with the team going 5-for-18 with RISP in the series.

There is still work to be done. Spencer Torkelson is still struggling mightily, and Javier Baez continues to roll the ball over at an alarming rate.

Javy Baez is fighting it this month: 8 for 54, two doubles, no homers, no RBI. Thirteen of his last 22 outs have been rollover ground balls. On the season, he's grounding out a career-high 57.5%
— Chris McCosky (@cmccosky) May 15, 2022

But this offense has been undeniably awful to start the season. This series was the first time all season where these hitters actually looked like they knew what they were doing up there.

This team still has their issues. The infield defense is still a problem, and the injuries have started to pile up even more with Victor Reyes and Austin Meadows both leaving Sunday’s game. Reyes had just come off the IL from a left quad strain, only to strain his right quad.

Victor Reyes left today's game with a right quad strain.
— Tigers PR (@DetroitTigersPR) May 15, 2022

This team needed something to feel good about, and with a tough nine-game road trip coming up, hopefully this sweep gets them in a groove.

Next. Analyzing Detroit Tigers' rookie Beau Brieske's early game struggles. dark

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3 encouraging signs from the Detroit Tigers’ sweep of the Orioles

E-rod and Tarik Skubal shoved

2. The bullpen is still (mostly) good

3. The offense finally showed signs of life

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