LOS ANGELES -- Tigers manager A.J. Hinch dropped a hint at his team’s approach against Roki Sasaki when a reporter asked what he thought of the Japanese sensation, whom Detroit tried to recruit in the offseason.
“We have to get him in the strike zone,” Hinch said.
A couple hours later, as Tigers hitters taxed Sasaki for 41 pitches in the opening inning, including 13 foul balls, that strategy looked like a winner. Detroit chased Sasaki at 61 pitches and just five outs recorded, compared with four walks and three hits. But their two runs off him came in the first inning on a Manuel Margot bases-loaded dribbler halfway down the third-base line and a Trey Sweeney bases-loaded walk.
By the end of the second inning, Detroit’s early lead was gone, and the Dodgers’ bullpen stepped in for Sasaki and retired 13 consecutive Tigers essentially using pitching chaos against the manager who coined the phrase last October. Once the Tigers made the logical decision to intentionally walk Shohei Ohtani with the go-ahead run on third in the fifth inning, only to have Teoscar Hernández capitalize with a two-run double to chase Reese Olson, the Detroit was down for good.
It was that kind of series for the Tigers, who had a lead in all three games at Dodger Stadium but were swept out of town -- a 5-4 loss on Opening Day, an 8-5 walk-off loss in 10 innings on Friday, then a 7-3 loss on Saturday in which they brought Riley Greene to the plate as the potential tying run in the seventh.
“I think that’s pretty encouraging, particularly against this caliber of a team,” said Spencer Torkelson, who looks again like a formidable threat in the middle of the order and had the best at-bats of the series. “They’re a really good team, and we had opportunities. A couple pitches every night going our way, both sides of the ball, we’re winning this series.”
A season-opening series at the reigning World Series champions was always going to be a challenge. Couple it with the fact that the Dodgers had already played a couple of regular-season games with the Tokyo Series, and Detroit had to ramp into regular-season mode quickly. Even so, they gave the champs a fight for three nights. They were ultimately outplayed, but not outclassed.
“When you look back, we could’ve won some games because of how many opportunities we gave ourselves,” Hinch said. “So you want to look at it positively, keep giving ourselves as many punches as you can. If you want to be frustrated, look at the results, because it wasn’t great.”
Here are three takeaways from the series:
1. This lineup gives them a chance
It wasn’t just Saturday’s approach against Sasaki. The Tigers made Blake Snell work on Opening Day, rallied on back-to-back nights against Tanner Scott and put the depth of the Dodgers’ bullpen to the test. This isn’t the same offense that went dormant for stretches last year.
They have power potential, and they can take the extra base. All they were missing was the big hit. They went 0-for-15 with runners in scoring position on Opening Day, and 4-for-32 for the series.
“If we take that approach and we give ourselves these opportunities, we’re going to feel really good about where we’re at,” Hinch said. “But we’re going to need the big hit, obviously. We’re not doing anything wrong. We’re not pressing. We’re not worked up about it. But it’s our reality this series.”
Once Greene, Kerry Carpenter and Colt Keith get going, those clutch hits should follow.
2. Bullpen struggles
The strength of last year’s postseason charge was a vulnerability this series. Ohtani’s Opening Day homer off sinkerballer Brenan Hanifee gets a pass, but Beau Brieske’s 10th-inning blown save Friday was crushing, and add-on homers against Brant Hurter and Kenta Maeda put Saturday’s finale out of reach. This is a group that relies on matchups and balance rather than one or two dominant arms, so matchups that don’t work out prove particularly costly. They’ll get an off-day Sunday to regroup before Seattle.
3. Defense holds up
For a team with so many interchangeable players at various positions, the Tigers played relatively clean baseball all series. Ryan Kreidler more than held his own in center, including a sliding catch on Opening Day. Keith looked comfortable for two games at first before shifting to second on Saturday for an injured Gleyber Torres. A couple outstanding plays could’ve turned games, including Michael Conforto’s ground-rule double just out of Greene’s reach on Friday and RBI base hits down either line on Saturday, but they had no glaring errors, either.