Tigers drop fourth straight, score just one run on Greene's homer against Guardians
Chris McCosky
Cleveland — No active player in baseball has hit more home runs against the Tigers than Jose Ramirez. Few have a better slash-line against them, either.
So, it wasn’t much of a shock that it was Ramirez who delivered the killing blow Monday night in the Central Division-leading Guardians' 2-1 win against the Tigers in the first of three games at Progressive Field.
Ramirez drove a 95-mph four-seam fastball off right-hander Jack Flaherty inside the foul pole in right field in the sixth inning, breaking a 1-1 tie.
"I hated the location of the pitch," Flaherty said. "The one pitch I pulled all the way across the plate. It was supposed to be away and I pulled it in against one of the best hitters in the league. You have to execute every pitch against him.
"That's the one pitch I want back."
It was Ramirez's his 29th homer against the Tigers and he came into the game slashing .300/.377/.570 with a .947 OPS against them.
BOX SCORE: Guardians 2, Tigers 1
It was the fourth straight loss for the Tigers.
"All you can do is make pitches," said Flaherty, who hasn’t posted a win in seven starts as a Tiger despite leading the American League with 54 strikeouts and just four walks. "When I come out of the game I want us to be ahead or have given us a chance to win. That's our job."
Flaherty scattered six hits and struck out six. He definitely gave the Tigers a chance to win. But it was another night of abject frustration for the offense.
"We did give ourselves a lot of opportunities," manager AJ Hinch said. "And we didn't get the big hit and we didn't really continue the innings, which is frustrating in a 2-1 game. Those are big at-bats that came up empty. We just had a hard time finishing the rallies that we started.
They had traffic on the bases in all but two innings. But Riley Greene’s feet were the only ones to touch home plate. They were 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position, leaving nine runners on base.
"It's baseball, you know?" Greene said. "Sometimes things don't go our way."
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Greene jumped right-hander Triston McKenzie’s first pitch of the game, a 90-mph fastball, and sent it 424 feet to right-center field. His ninth home run of the season left his bat with an exit velocity of 110 mph.
"I always attack the first pitch," Greene said. "Because that can be the only pitch you get."
The Guardians answered against Flaherty in the bottom of the first. Estevan Florial, who was in the lineup replacing injured Steven Kwan, led off with a double. With two outs, Flaherty walked Josh Naylor and gave up an RBI single to Will Brennan.
A smart defensive play by right fielder Kerry Carpenter ended the inning without Flaherty having to throw another pitch. He came up firing to third base, resisting the temptation to throw home, and threw out Naylor with a perfect throw.
From there, though, it was crickets from both offenses.
The Tigers stranded two runners in the second and had runners at the corners with one out in the fifth with Mark Canha up. Canha, one of the more disciplined hitters in the game, has a .370 on-base percentage and a 12% walk rate.
But this time he was called out on strikes. He took three pitches, all of them showed outside the Statcast strike zone box. He argued briefly with home plate umpire Ramon De Jesus.
"Those are big at-bats and everyone knows it," Hinch said. I haven't seen the video from the front but they looked borderline down and up...You have to do your part to focus on what you can control but if if our guys complain, it's usually for a reason."
Matt Vierling ended the inning with a hard lineout to left.
That ended the night for McKenzie, who came in with a 1.07 career ERA against the Tigers.
"Part of the difficulty playing against this team is their pitching responds in tough situations," Hinch said. "McKenzie has been good, especially when he sees our uniform."
The squandered opportunities continued for the Tigers against the Cleveland bullpen. They left two on in the sixth, failing to cash in on a catcher’s interference and a walk. Greene hit into a fast double-play in the seventh after Carson Kelly led off with a single.
In the eighth against right-hander Hunter Gaddis, Carpenter missed by inches tying the game. His long fly ball bounced off the high left-field wall, just inches below the yellow line. Still, he was on second with one out. He stayed there after Spencer Torkelson reached on an infield single. Tough read.
"Looked like it," Hinch said when asked if Carpenter could have gotten to third on Torkelson's check-swing grounder that third baseman Ramirez had to charge. "We'll take a look at it, but it looked like he had a hard time reading where the ball was with Ramirez. If it's in the baseline he needs to stay. Ramirez came pretty far forward on the checked swing.
"Missed opportunity there."
Carpenter did advance to third on a fielder’s choice ground out by Andy Ibanez. But Gaddis punched out Wenceel Perez, three 96-mph fastballs, to end the threat.
There was no drama in the ninth against Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase, who earned his 11th save.
"We were six inches away from a tie ballgame," Greene said. "It sucks. But we're going to come out tomorrow and try to win."
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