Tigers' lead over Guards remains just 1 game after 6th straight loss

DETROIT -- Riley Greene, master of the diving catch, has a form when he knows he can get to a ball if he goes all-out and plays hero. Fittingly, he calls it the Superman dive, spreading his arms like he’s flying but diving down towards the ground to soften the impact on his body.

His attempt at Drake Baldwin’s RBI triple down the left-field line in the fifth inning was not that. He could see the line drive fading away from him, edging ever closer towards the left-field corner as he sprinted after it. When he realized he wouldn’t get to it in stride, he stretched out his glove arm and made a lunging attempt to get underneath the ball, sliding on his right leg as the ball fell just out of his reach and bounced past him.

It was a last-ditch act of desperation to try to stop the add-on run and keep the game within reach. It felt like a microcosm for the Tigers’ week.

The harder the Tigers have tried to chase down a division title, the further it feels like it’s fading from their grasp. The 6-2 loss to Atlanta on Sunday completed an 0-6 homestand -- the Tigers’ most consecutive home losses since June 12-17, 2022, and their first winless homestand of six or more games since May 13-23, 2019 -- and tied their longest losing streak of the season.

“The only thing we can do is play the schedule,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “I know everyone has to be tired of the same answers, and we’re tired of the same results. I get it. It’s part of sports. Come and do everything you can to get a win. And right now it feels like it’s eluding us in so many different ways.”

And yet, with a gust of wind from the north, the division is still within their grasp. In a week that the Tigers couldn’t seemingly catch a break at home, they finally got one Sunday from Minnesota, where the Twins ended the Guardians’ 10-game winning streak with a 6-2 win, denying Cleveland a chance to tie Detroit atop the AL Central. The Tigers will take a one-game lead into Cleveland on Tuesday for a three-game series that will likely determine the division.

If the Tigers can turn the tables on the Guardians, continue the road trend in the season rivalry and sweep the series at Progressive Field, repeating their success there in early July, they’ll clinch the division. Win two of three, and Detroit could wrap up the division next weekend in Boston without any help from the Rangers, who visit the Guardians next weekend. Lose the series in Cleveland, and the Tigers either need help or will need to earn a Wild Card spot as a fallback, much like the eventual 2006 AL champions did after the Twins passed them for the division title on the final day of the regular season.

The road team has won nine of the 10 games in the division rivalry this year, including the past six. But by winning six of seven in Detroit, the Guardians are one win away from clinching the season series, which would give them the division tiebreaker if the two clubs finish with the same record.

Essentially, the Tigers’ playoffs are now. And like a postseason series, they begin with Tarik Skubal on Tuesday.

“There’s no secret sauce,” said Spencer Torkelson. “Switch your batting gloves up. Switch your cleats. A change of scenery’s good. But we’re going to have to lock it in. …

“Obviously this isn’t what we expected, but this is as real as it gets in the regular season.”

It’s a massive amount of uncertainty from a race that seemed anything but just five days ago, when the Tigers held a 6 1/2-game lead before play on Tuesday. The rain showers that settled over Comerica Park in the second inning and incrementally intensified until reaching a downpour around the seventh-inning stretch, causing a rain delay, fit the mood. As starter Casey Mize left in the sixth inning, an out shy of a quality start, the All-Star right-hander received a standing ovation for his efforts, perhaps an acknowledgement in case the Tigers don’t play at home again this season.

“The opportunity’s still in front of us, as bad as it’s been,” said Mize, whose next start will be in Boston against a Red Sox team also in the playoff hunt. “We’re going to have two tough series, but it’s still in front of us. We have to go in expecting to win the game and competing hard, like we always do.

“It’s right there in front of us. We can flip the switch and make it happen. That’ll give us solace in tough times: Hey, we’re still right here.”