Ryan Vilade costs Tigers with botched diving attempt to give Mariners walk-off win

The Tigers were in a prime position heading into the bottom of the ninth against the Mariners on Thursday night. Parker Meadows grounded out to wrap up the top of the inning, but Detroit was still sitting on a lovely 91% win probability thanks to a 3-1 lead.

Tyler Holton gave up a single to Luke Raley to start the bottom of the inning and was replaced by Will Vest to close things out. He got into a bit more trouble when Randy Arozarena tacked on a single to get two men on, but after getting Cal Raleigh and Justin Turner to strike out, that tipped the scales ever more in the Tigers' favor again.

Then, Jorge Polanco walked to load the bases. Okay, not great, but Vest had two outs already. All it would take was a simple groundout, fly out, what have you — but no. Mitch Haniger sent one on a line to right field, where Ryan Vilade made a valiant but ultimately fruitless effort to dive for a ball that wouldn't end up touching his glove at all. He hit the grass, and the ball traveled out to the wall for Parker Meadows in center to chase after.

It cleared the bases. The Mariners walked it off.

Ryan Vilade's missed catch cost the Tigers their first series sweep since early July

The Tigers still managed to take the series in a very tough ballpark to hit in, but Vilade's mishap cost them their first sweep since early July, when they beat the Reds in all three of their games in Cincinnati. After the game, Vilade said, "I got a good jump to where I catch it, the game is over and we're celebrating. I should've caught it. It sucks that I didn't." Sure does, dude!

Vilade has been up since July 26, when Riley Greene went onto the IL with a hamstring strain, but he's been pretty much a non-factor in the Tigers' lineup. He's played in six games so far in his third trip back up to the majors this season, but he literally hasn't been able to get on base once. He's struck out four times, but otherwise doesn't even have a walk to show for his 12 plate appearances.

But he's really all the Tigers have at this point. There are only three outfielders down in Toledo at the moment, and one of them is Kerry Carpenter, who's only there for a rehab assignment. Akil Baddoo is another, but the Tigers seem to have given up on him after three up-and-down trips of his own this year.

Sure, they still won the series, but this is unfortunately the state of Tigers baseball at the moment. Riley Greene, please come back to us soon.