Tigers look to 'pick ourselves up' after sweep shrinks AL Central lead

DETROIT -- Comerica Park’s in-game entertainment crew has made an eighth-inning ritual out of Journey’s 1981 hit “Don’t Stop Believin’,” getting fans on their feet and singing. The rock anthem has always had a fun but odd relationship with this city because of its geographically awkward reference to a city boy from South Detroit.

There is no South Detroit. If there was, it would be across the river in Windsor, Ontario, as nearly any Tigers fan can tell you. But there is belief, in the city and the Tigers alike. The latter hasn’t stopped this week, but after a summer of celebrations at Comerica Park, it is being tested mightily the past few days.

An announced crowd of 34,267 showed up on a mid-September Thursday afternoon to enjoy summer’s last gasp in Michigan and cheer the Tigers on in the final homestand of the regular season. But between cheers for Tarik Skubal and boos for Steven Kwan and José Ramírez were scattered murmurs of unease. They’d pop up after a missed opportunity against Cleveland starter Tanner Bibee, or extra baserunners that would extend a Skubal inning.

When Ramírez powered a Troy Melton pitch deep to right for a go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh, the murmurs were unmistakable. When Andy Ibáñez fouled out to Ramírez to close out Detroit’s 3-1 loss and a Guardians series sweep, there were boos scattered amidst the cheers from Cleveland fans who made the drive from Ohio.

“It was a rough day,” manager A.J. Hinch said.

Detroit’s lead over Cleveland atop the AL Central is down to 3 1/2 games. The Tigers have a chance to regain momentum this weekend against Atlanta, winner of five straight, and could conceivably clinch at home with any combination of four wins or Guardians losses in Minnesota. More likely, Detroit will head into Cleveland next Tuesday for three more games with the division on the line.

“We have to pick ourselves up,” Hinch said. “We got our ass kicked in pretty much every aspect, and they swept us. Now they're going to get another shot at us, or we're going to get another shot at them, whichever way you want to look at it.”

The Tigers retain a 91.8 percent chance to win the division and 96.8 percent chance to make the playoffs, according to FanGraphs. But odds ring hollow for a team that turned a 0.2 percent chance to make the playoffs into a postseason run last year.

“I mean, we’re atop the division, no?” Skubal asked. “Last season, I think that can put it all into perspective. We were grinding every single day to win. This season we got off to a great start and we’re atop the division. Until that changes, I don’t really know.”

More than momentum or pressure, the Tigers have to be concerned with how they lost this series. They lined up their top three starters -- Casey Mize, Jack Flaherty and Skubal -- with hopes of putting the division race to bed. The Guardians moved up Gavin Williams and Bibee to start the final two games, and will likely line them up against the Tigers again next week.

The strategy worked. Cleveland outpitched Detroit, quieting a Tigers lineup at full strength. Starters Joey Cantillo, Williams and Bibee combined for 16 innings with two runs allowed on 11 hits, striking out 20. Mize, Flaherty and Skubal weren’t far off, allowing five runs over 16 1/3 innings with 21 strikeouts. But Guardians hitters ran up pitch counts, then pounced on a Tigers bullpen with four 10th-inning runs off Will Vest on Tuesday, add-on runs off Jose Urquidy Wednesday and Ramírez’s homer Thursday.

Skubal, normally Detroit’s firewall in a series, used more pitches in six innings Thursday (102) than he did in his May 25 shutout of the Guardians (94), allowing Ramírez to face Melton in the seventh.

“Yeah, they're getting closer,” Kerry Carpenter said. “But it really comes down to not executing the way we wanted to on the field. And they did this series, especially on the mound.”

The Tigers continue to talk about opportunity over pressure, but signs of frustration are building. Colt Keith, who later left the game with low back tightness, pounded the railing with his right hand after not catching Nolan Jones’ second-inning foul ball at the screen behind third base. Skubal whirled and yelled before Jhonkensy Noel’s fourth-inning solo homer had left the yard. Hinch smartly stepped in between Skubal and home-plate umpire Chris Conroy before Skubal could intensify his inquiry of Conroy’s strike zone after his final pitch in the sixth. Dillon Dingler tossed his bat into the rack after lining into a double play to erase a leadoff baserunner in the seventh.

“Winning cures everything,” Skubal said. “We’re just not winning. I don’t really have a finger I can point to one thing. We just need to probably play collectively better baseball. But I don’t think that there’s any sense of tightness within the group.”

Don’t stop believing. But it’s understandable to start worrying.