Disastrous 9th-inning defense dooms Tigers in rough loss to Rockies

The Tigers can't afford to be taking losses right now, especially not on Tarik Skubal days, and not when Skubal days have become more spaced out now than they have been through the rest of the season. Despite being in the chase for a Wild Card spot, the Tigers are sticking to their plan with Skubal, giving him an extra day of rest to exercise caution until 2024's conclusion.

But Thursday afternoon's game against the Rockies, the series finale with the Tigers looking for a sweep, was a Skubal day, and despite a solo homer given up to Jordan Beck in the top of the third, he was characteristically excellent, pitching six innings and striking out six while not allowing a walk.

Spencer Torkelson responded to the solo homer with a two-run double in the fourth, but Charlie Blackmon evened the score again with an RBI single in the seventh. The game stayed even at 2-2 going into the ninth inning.

The Tigers pinch hit Wenceel Pérez, fresh off the IL, for Jake Rogers, and then inserted Dillon Dingler behind the plate to catch Jason Foley in the ninth inning. Foley's been excellent through the year, but especially during his last 15 outings, so it stood to reason that he would be able to get through the side and give the Tigers a chance to walk it off. But no.

Ninth-inning defensive mishaps cost the Tigers a key sweep against the Rockies

Foley gave up a leadoff single to Brendan Rodgers, which is never a good way to start an inning. With Jacob Stallings up to bat, a fastball got by Dingler behind the plate, allowing Rodgers to move into scoring position. Stallings saw three more pitches and fouled two off before catching a slider off the plate. The ball had some spin off the bat, and as it dropped into left field it evaded Matt Vierling, who tried grabbing it on the hop. Stallings made it second standing, and Rodgers scored.

Nolan Jones, pinch running for Stallings, advanced to third on a groundout from Hunter Goodman. All Jake Cave had to do to score another run was put one deep enough into the outfield, and that's exactly what he did. 4-2, Rockies.

Foley finally got out of the inning with a Sam Hilliard groundout. In the Tigers' turn at the bottom of the inning, Colt Keith and Spencer Torkelson threatened with a walk and a single, and then the man up with two outs and a two-run deficit was none other than Zach McKinstry.

McKinstry experienced a nice hot streak in the latter half of August that made Tigers fans have to pump the breaks on calling for his head, but almost as soon as we made it into September, he turned into a pumpkin again and has been hitting below .200 in his last seven games. Already 0-for-3 at the plate that afternoon, he never really even had a chance. With the count 1-2, he struck out on a foul tip to kill the momentum and end the game.

The Tigers are still walking away with a series win, but this makes their upcoming nine-game stretch against the Orioles, Royals, then Orioles again, just that much tougher. Passed balls and misread fly balls can't be happening over the next week. The margin for error here is almost zero, and two mistakes was two too many.