Carpenter gives Tigers some length in loss

DETROIT -- The biggest challenge Tigers general manager Al Avila has faced the past two offseasons, aside from finding prospect packages in return for veteran players, has been building enough pitching depth to protect against injuries. Thursday’s 13-0 loss to the Angels -- tied for Detroit's worst shutout loss at Comerica Park since its opening in 2000 -- was an example of what happens when that depth runs short.

As Albert Pujols’ third-inning solo homer sailed deep into the left-field seats for the 2,000th RBI of his career and the sixth run of the Angels’ afternoon, there was no stirring in the Tigers’ bullpen. They badly needed innings from left-hander Ryan Carpenter, called up from Triple-A Toledo, to rest their bullpen ahead of four games over the next three days in Minnesota. With Thursday’s game looking out of reach, they were going to get those innings and let Carpenter figure his way out of them.

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"They pounded the ball and knocked us around pretty good," Detroit manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Carp was up early in the game. You get behind, 6-0, and you're just hoping to hold on. We’ve got four games coming up in three days in Minnesota against a good-hitting ballclub. We’ve got to regroup and bounce back. This club does that very well. But a very tough day today."

Carpenter went five innings, allowing six runs on eight hits with a walk and two strikeouts. The Halos put eight balls in play off him with an exit velocity over 100 mph, according to Statcast. As Carpenter descended the steps into the Tigers’ dugout, he received a handshake from pitching coach Rick Anderson for eating up innings and improving by the end.

By the time Justin Bour hit a projected 425-foot home run over the out-of-town scoreboard in right-center for the final run in the ninth, the Angels had 13 balls topping 100 mph in exit velocity.

“We don’t want to kill our bullpen, so we need some depth from our starters, and today was a rough one,” Gardenhire said. “Carp did the best he could. It just didn’t work out too well.”

This is what keeps Avila and his staff worried in the short term, as their long-term prognosis looks more promising with each gem tossed at Double-A Erie. While Matthew Boyd, Spencer Turnbull and Daniel Norris have formed a promising young trio in Detroit, one glaring hole in a five-man rotation could wreck a bullpen that has already been showing signs of wearing down in the middle innings. It puts more pressure on the rookie Turnbull and the finally healthy Norris to provide long, quality outings in their turns as they deal with their own growing pains.

This is how rebuilding seasons go from encouraging to endangering, taking the morale of a young clubhouse with it. For all the Tigers’ recent struggles, including double-digit runs allowed in four of their past 12 games, they still sit just two games under .500 (16-18).

Carpenter left an impression with 11 scoreless innings for the Tigers in Spring Training, but he posted a 7.25 ERA in five starts and a relief appearance last season, and he had a 4.09 ERA in six starts at Triple-A Toledo this year before he was called up. His struggles Thursday were a worst-case scenario.

The Tigers went nearly two weeks with a four-man rotation thanks to off-days. With one more off-day before May 30, that’s no longer an option. Gardenhire declared before the game that Carpenter is their fifth starter and will make his rotation turns as such. Thursday’s struggles leave him something to ponder ahead of an expected start against the Astros on Tuesday, followed by the A’s next weekend.

But with Michael Fulmer, Matt Moore and Jordan Zimmermann on the injured list, the Tigers are well down their depth chart of starting pitching options. Fulmer and Moore are out for the season. The Tigers are hoping the healthy feeling Zimmermann has had in his throwing program this week continues, allowing him to return in two to three weeks while Carpenter, or somebody else, serves as a stopgap. If Zimmermann’s right elbow barks again, he could be out for a long while as well.

Their only other starter at Triple-A Toledo on the 40-man roster is fellow lefty Matt Hall, who has a 6.41 ERA with the Mud Hens but has struck out 34 batters over 26 2/3 innings. The Tigers need a spot starter for Saturday’s doubleheader and are calling up left-hander Gregory Soto from Double-A Erie for his Major League debut, according to Tom Riesenweber of the Erie Times-News. Soto has just three appearances above Class A but made a strong-armed impression in Spring Training.

The Tigers have three top prospects alongside Soto in Erie’s rotation, but they have made it clear they’ll exercise patience with top picks Casey Mize, Matt Manning and Alex Faedo -- their Nos. 1, 2 and 10 prospects, per MLB Pipeline -- and let the trio develop. Gardenhire has been told half-jokingly not to even look at them, so as to keep the thought out of his head. Two other starting pitching prospects at Toledo, former first-round picks Beau Burrows and Kyle Funkhouser, are both on the injured list, and they had their struggles in the Hens' rotation before that. With a 40-man roster spot open, however, either pitcher could become an option once they’re healthy, possibly in the next week or two.

The alternative is to bring in another starter via trade or free agency. While 2015 American League Cy Young Award winner Dallas Keuchel remains on the free-agent market, the rebuilding Tigers have no reason to give up the fourth-round Draft pick -- and the Draft pool space that comes with it -- that they’d have to surrender to sign him before June. Detroit has looked at 37-year-old free agent James Shields, but with a 5.17 ERA and 5.59 FIP since 2016, he offers no guarantees other than innings, something the Tigers got out of Carpenter on Thursday.

If Zimmermann’s recovery turns south, the Tigers will likely check the market to see if any big-league veterans on Minor League contracts exercise opt-out clauses or request trades. It might not be a glamorous result, and it probably wouldn’t yield anyone who could present trade value come July.

Detroit could ultimately end up forced to stretch out reliever Blaine Hardy for another rotation stint like the lefty did last summer, though the Tigers don’t want to risk a worse injury than the left forearm strain that has Hardy on the injured list and rehabbing at Class A Advanced Lakeland.

None of Detroit's current options are ideal. But with three-fifths of the Tigers' expected Opening Day rotation shelved for now, and much of their future rotation still a ways off, Gardenhire and his staff are caught between protecting the future and surviving the present.

“If we can get deeper in the game, we can protect our guys out there in the 'pen,” he said.