Tigers' reputation for playing clean baseball took huge hit in messy loss to Pirates

The Tigers have been asked what they think their team identity is an inordinate amount of times this season. It kind of makes sense — they're young and relatively inexperienced, and their August-September run into the postseason last year felt at least a little like they were flying by the seat of their pants — but it also feels pretty obvious.

Detroit plays good fundamental baseball. Where they tend to lack in power, they make up for in good old small ball. They get guys on base, they take extra bases wherever possible, and they run hard. They focus on defense and try to mitigate mistakes.

Most of that went out of the window on Tuesday during their second game against the Pirates. Parker Meadows lost a ball in the sun to allow Oneil Cruz to get to first, and then a throw from Zach McKinstry got past Spencer Torkelson; the speedy Cruz took advantage of Torkelson's leisurely jog to the ball and scored.

Wenceel Pérez didn't touch home on what could've been a sac fly for Zach McKinstry, robbing the Tigers of a run. Jake Rogers let a dropped third strike get away from him, which led to a three-run bottom of the sixth.

The Tigers lost 8-5, marking their third straight series loss and their eighth loss in 10 games.

Tigers make series of uncharacteristic blunders in Tuesday's loss to Pirates, lose third straight series

The five runs Detroit scored were thanks to a three-run homer from Rogers, which sort of balanced out his shoddy defense later in the game, and a two-run homer from Jahmai Jones, pinch-hitting for Parker Meadows. Gleyber Torres and Spencer Torkelson both enjoyed three-hit games, but the team went 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position to the Pirates' 7-for-19.

Casey Mize had another shaky outing, and Hernández saw his ERA balloon to 11.17 and made him almost a surefire cut during the impending trade deadline roster shuffles.

AJ Hinch said of the loss and of his team's recent skid, "We are a much better team and a cleaner team than what we've shown. We've been trending with some struggles that we know we can fix. We know we can be better. This group is confident, but we got to wear it while we're going through it. The reality is, we haven't played our best, and it's cost us."

Hopefully, what we've been seeing as of late are the results of a collective mental funk that the Tigers can wiggle their way out of. There's still little reason to worry about the rest of the AL Central catching up, but this isn't the kind of play anyone would want to see in the postseason.