DETROIT – The seemingly random cheers through the late innings Friday night at Comerica Park all had a purpose: With each bucket by the Pistons in Orlando, a subsection of Tigers fans following the NBA playoffs on their phone would raise a reaction, and an occasional “Deee-troit basketball” to boot.
While the Pistons rallied to stay alive in their series against the Magic, the Tigers had their own comeback against the Rangers, only to fall late. They’re far from a now-or-never moment like their basketball neighbors, not with May just beginning. But as they processed Friday’s 5-4 loss, their fifth defeat in seven games, the underlying concerns of a rotation in turbulence and a pitching staff under stress loomed.
“We’re going through a few things,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “Obviously, the 'pen has been leaned on quite a bit. There are guys that are not feeling at their best. That’s what we’re working through.”
It’s not just about struggling starter Jack Flaherty. It’s a ripple effect of a bullpen having to cover heavy innings for the second time in four days, with a bullpen start looming Sunday for injured Casey Mize’s spot, with versatile Will Vest’s availability in question, with Justin Verlander still trying to work back from his left hip injury, and with no off-day coming until after Flaherty’s next outing next Wednesday against the Red Sox.
A pitching group that entered the season as the strength of the team now has more questions from Detroit’s offense, and with no easy solutions.
“Just keep working,” Flaherty said. “Just keep working.”
It has not been a lack of work holding Flaherty back. He continues to hone his efforts into his side sessions between starts, looking for the tweak or adjustment that will unlock the workhorse that Flaherty has been at various points in his career, including last October. And the improved body language Flaherty displayed on the mound Friday compared to last weekend’s three-homer loss in Cincinnati suggests he believed he had found something.
Flaherty didn’t look like a pitcher expecting things to go wrong, not even when Rangers No. 9 hitter Danny Jansen sent his hanging slider deep to left leading off the third inning to open a 2-0 lead.
Flaherty’s downfall wasn’t his fourth homer allowed in two outings, but the back-to-back-to-back walks that followed Jansen’s homer, setting up add-on runs on Josh Jung’s RBI single and Joc Pederson’s sacrifice fly. It marked Flaherty’s sixth outing of three or more walks in seven starts this season, three off his total of three-walk outings from 31 starts last year. He had just three such outings across 28 starts in 2024 between the Tigers and Dodgers.
“I don’t think it’s mechanical,” Flaherty said. “It happened a couple times last year where I just felt like I would kind of lose the zone for three or four hitters in a row, kind of out of the middle of nowhere. Today I was on the attack and really good for two innings. And then that third inning right there, you just lose it for three hitters.
“It’s just agonizing. It’s frustrating. It [ticks] you off. I’m losing sleep over it every single day, trying to figure out what goes on in that little bit right there.”
Figuring that out was the focus of Hinch’s conversation with Flaherty upon pulling him following a two-out single in the fourth.
“Just trying to encourage him,” Hinch said. “I mean, it’s easy to get frustrated. We’ve gotta stay behind him. We’re with him. We know he’s been good before. He’s going to be good for us [again]. I just want to keep encouraging him, because we need him.”
The Tigers leaned on Enmanuel De Jesus, Brenan Hanifee, Brant Hurter and Burch Smith to fill innings while they erased their four-run deficit by wearing down Rangers starter MacKenzie Gore and reliever Cole Winn. But with Kyle Finnegan presumably unavailable after throwing 46 pitches over the previous two days, and Vest having not pitched since last Sunday in Cincinnati, Detroit’s best option was Smith, who gave up back-to-back doubles in the eighth for the go-ahead run.
On Vest, Hinch said before the game, “Will’s not at 100 percent.”
On Verlander, slated to throw another bullpen session this weekend, Hinch said, “We’re really just trying to get through the bullpens without symptoms. It’s why we’re really just doing one step at a time. The hope is that he’s able to add more and more every session.”
There’s help on the horizon. Troy Melton, out since Spring Training with right elbow inflammation, will begin a rehab assignment on Sunday. Beau Brieske is facing hitters in Lakeland, Fla. Connor Seabold has resumed throwing after his left ankle sprain last week. But for now, they’re struggling through it all.