Tigers reliever's blowup vs Brewers was final straw as Detroit makes roster move

The Tigers' Tuesday night opener against the Brewers was egregious on many levels, but some truly terrible pitching was the biggest takeaway.

Keider Montero, who has been solid so far this season, wobbled. He gave up three runs in 5 2/3 innings — not unforgivable, but not optimal. The Tigers' offense might've been able to salvage the game to keep their homestand streak alive if that score held, but Enmanuel De Jesus and Connor Seabold had other ideas.

De Jesus finished the sixth for Montero without issue and got two quick outs in the seventh before giving up a single, a walk, and then allowing David Hamilton on second to get to third after a botched pickoff attempt. Back-to-back singles put the Brewers up 5-1.

The eighth is where it got really ugly, and De Jesus and Seabold combined to give Milwaukee seven runs and go up 12-1.

There have been encroaching concerns about middle relief, but here it was on fully display. De Jesus walked away with a 10.13 ERA.

The Tigers took action quickly. On Wednesday, Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic reported that De Jesus had been optioned, and minor league signing Burch Smith had been promoted.

Tigers option Enmanuel De Jesus after blowup inning vs. Brewers, promote Burch Smith

It's a disappointing crash back down to earth for De Jesus, who looked like he could be a revelation for the Tigers during spring training and his record-setting efforts for Team Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic. But it wasn't that one bad outing was all it took for the Tigers to lose patience; he's been almost impossible to truly depend on since the beginning of the season.

Smith survived multiple rounds of spring training cuts but was ultimately optioned to Triple-A to start the season. He pitched 7 2/3 innings for a 2.35 ERA in Lakeland. The Tigers will be the eighth major league club he gets innings with.

He's looked very good so far in Toledo, pitching 10 innings for a 1.80 ERA with 16 strikeouts and no walks. The Mud Hens have used him for up to two innings, so he's a natural fit to take on the job De Jesus was ousted from.

Tigers fans knew that Scott Harris' decision to only add one real high-leverage arm to the bullpen would come back to bite him, even though we got on board with De Jesus after his WBC stint. It should come as no surprise that it's coming back to bite him early, but somehow it still stings a bit.

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