Windsor: Tigers' story of season about one team -- Indians
Cleveland's domination of Tigers may best typify Detroit's 2016 season -- and its ultimate undoing
Roberto Perez hit a home run Monday night at Comerica Park. Knocked in a run in the eighth inning, too.
If you’re looking for a reason to explain the cosmic imbalance in the record books between the Cleveland Indians and the Detroit Tigers this season, take a good look at Perez.
Backup catcher for the Indians. Hitting a .168 before Monday.
A buck-sixty-eight?
Yeah, .168.
Done in by the hitter in the nine-hole.
That’s how it’s gone this season when the Tigers play the Indians, the team that is single-handedly trying to keep the Tigers from the playoffs – they are two games back in the final wild card spot after losing, 7-4, Monday night.
Somebody on the Indians always makes a pitch, or makes a play in the field, or gets a hit. Somebody is always pulling a Perez. Like Coco Crisp, the No. 7 hitter, who blasted a two-run shot in the second inning to quiet the few thousand fans there supporting the Tigers.
The rest were Indians fans, and it was hard to blame them for making the drive.
They’d seen the results this season. They’d seen the blowouts, the close wins, the inevitability when their team plays the Tigers. Going 14-2 brings a kind of entitlement.
It also brings bafflement.
“I don’t remember ever going through something like this,” said Brad Ausmus. “I couldn’t tell you why (it's happened). I don’t know if it’s matchups. I don’t know if it’s luck. I don’t know if it’s happenstance. If we play the same number of games next year, I’d be surprised if it’s anything like this in terms of record.”
He does, however, know this: “They’ve outplayed us. They’ve outhit us. They’ve out pitched us. They’ve outdefended us.”
Not that he needs to tell us that. Nor does he need to tell us that even a bad record against the Indians and the rest of this week doesn’t look so dire.
Go just 4-10 and the Tigers are tied for a wild spot right now, instead of two games back of the Orioles. Go 7-7 and they’re fighting for a Central Division title, instead of watching the Indians celebrate winning it in Comerica Park.
“Not fun,” said Buck Farmer, who got his second start of the season, who watched the Indians sprint and jump up and down on the infield.
Then again, there hasn’t been much fun about this season period. Not with the uneven play. The blown saves. The injuries. The losing streaks.
That they are here, still in the playoff race, feels like a mirage. And they deserve some credit for hanging around. After all, the Tigers had to use Farmer in the middle of a playoff chase, which tells us a lot about the struggle to find a consistent rotation this year.
So, the Tigers have six games left. Three are against these Indians. Three are against Atlanta.
Even if the Tigers get on another winning streak and finish the season, say, 5-1, that means Baltimore could still go 3-3 and force a play-in game for a right to a wild card spot.
But, are the Tigers really going to go 5-1?
The odds don’t look good. Not that Ausmus cares.
“We don’t really give a crap what the odds are,” he said.
“We are gonna need some help,”
Maybe they’ll get it from the Indians, who will surely be tired and partied out by the time they return to Comerica Park tonight for Game 2 of the four-game series. This season, against this franchise, that might be the best they can hope for.
Contact Shawn Windsor: 313-222-6487 or swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @shawnwindsor. Download our Tigers Xtra app for free on Apple and Android devices!