Tigers' win over Royals can't distract from ridiculous RISP stat that needs get better now

The Tigers snapped a five-game losing streak on Sunday against the Royals thanks to a pinch-hit, go-ahead, two-run homer from Gage Workman in his first major league appearance in Detroit, and a few bounce back appearances out of the bullpen for Enmanuel De Jesus and Kyle Finnegan.

It distracted from the absolute misery the Tigers have been putting fans through over the past few weeks. Workman is only in the majors because Kerry Carpenter went onto the IL with a shoulder sprain, bringing Detroit's IL count to 15. Justin Verlander was moved to the 60-day IL.

It seems obvious to fans that losing so many teammates — Colt Keith called it a "bloodbath" — has taken its toll on the remaining players' morale. No one would characterize the kind of baseball the Tigers are playing right now as "lively."

Detroit is 19-22 and tied with Kansas City for third place in the AL Central. They're only half a game back of the White Sox and 1.5 from the Guardians, so no one in the division is particularly happy right now, but the Tigers had far more expectations weighing on them coming into the season. This was supposed to be their division.

A horrifying stat explains at least some of their troubles. They've had 51 opportunities with runners in scoring position and no outs, and they've failed to score in 45.1% of those opportunities.

Gage Workman’s homer only kind of consoles Tigers fans after IL fills to bursting

There were examples of that kind of failure even in Sunday night's win. In the top of the third, Jahmai Jones singled and DIllon Dingler drew a walk with no outs, and then Riley Greene, Wenceel Pérez, and Spencer Torkelson went down in order. It happened twice in their opener against the Royals, and once in the second game.

We won't go so far as to say we haven't seen the Gritty Tigers at all this season, because there have been a couple of wins the Tigers have stolen in spectacular fashion, but there's been a distinct lack of grit in the past few weeks.

Losing so many players, including franchise keystone Tarik Skubal, to the IL has been devastating, but those remaining should still be able to bear down and come up in the clutch far more often than they have been. This was a burgeoning problem even before Parker Meadows, Gleyber Torres, Javy Báez, and Carpenter got hurt.

Hopefully Workman's homer will act as a spark the Tigers desperately need. The fact that they're moving on to face the 15-25 Mets this week should help, too. If it doesn't ... whew, boy.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow