Detroit Tigers right-hander Alex Faedo executed his pitches for nearly his entire start, but two hitters beat him in crucial situations. As a result, the Seattle Mariners scored three runs on home runs in the third and fourth innings.
The two homers, both with two strikes and two outs, spoiled an otherwise impressive outing from Faedo. The Tigers didn’t help him, though, as the offense posted three hits — without a walk — in Saturday’s 5-0 loss at Comerica Park.
“First time getting six innings this year,” Faedo said. “I thought I threw the ball pretty good and threw a lot of strikes. Overall, it was a good game. Not good enough to get the win, but more often than not, I’ll take that keeping us in the game. Six innings, three runs, not too bad.”
The Tigers (17-21) have lost back-to-back games for the first time in May.
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Mariners right-hander Bryce Miller, making the third start of his MLB career, delivered seven scoreless innings on three hits, zero walks and three strikeouts. He threw 57 of 82 pitches for strikes.
Miller threw 70.5% fastballs in his first two starts, but facing the Tigers, he abandoned his previous approach and dominated. He tossed 49% fastballs, 23% sliders, 18% curveballs and 10% changeups.
The Tigers failed to hit the non-fastballs.
“We didn’t do anything against him,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “He had good stuff. I thought he changed his attack plan a little bit. Everything across the board was in the strike zone. He was efficient, dominant. I can see why he’s off to a good start in his career.”
The 24-year-old, a fourth-round pick in the 2021 draft, retired 16 batters in a row between Spencer Torkelson’s single in the first inning and Javier Báez’s leadoff single in the seventh.
The next three batters stranded Báez at first base.
Against Nick Maton — a known fastball hitter — Miller relied on breaking balls and offspeed pitches. Maton, who served as the designated hitter, finished 0-for-3 with three balls in play. He is hitting .157 in 35 games this season.
“We hit a lot of balls hard right at people,” Eric Haase said.
Power outing
Jarred Kelenic hit the first home run.
Teoscar Hernández hit the second home run.
A solid outing for Faedo — his second big-league start this season — was clouded by those two homers. The 27-year-old allowed three runs on four hits and one walk with seven strikeouts, throwing 61 of 86 pitches for strikes.
“The one Kelenic hit was a really good pitch,” Faedo said. “He’s a really good player and is off to a good start this year. The one Hernández hit was a really bad miss by me. Get him 0-2, and if you’re going to miss, miss in the dirt. It was the same thing I did to (Paul) Goldschmidt last week. I got to be a little better at that.”
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Kelenic put the Mariners ahead, 2-0, with a 347-foot two-run home run off Faedo’s up-and-in fastball in the third inning. The ball traveled inside the right-field foul pole.
Hernández extended the Mariners’ lead to 3-0 with a 403-foot solo home run off Faedo’s down-and-in slider in the fourth. Both Kelenic and Hernández have launched eight homers in 2023.
“The two-strike cement mixer to Teo was a mistake,” Hinch said. “That’s going to happen from time to him, and hitters like him are going to make you do damage, but I thought (Faedo) missed bats with multiple pitches. He threw behind in the count offspeed. His fastball was a step better, and even a tick better velocity-wise. Everything, I thought, was better than his last start.”
Faedo threw 40 fastballs (47%), 31 sliders (36%) and 15 changeups (17%). He generated 14 whiffs — four fastballs, eight sliders and two changeups — and nine called strikes. His fastball averaged 93.3 mph.
The 2017 No. 18 overall pick has given up four homers in 10⅔ innings.
‘Pen pals
The Tigers covered the final three innings with three relievers.
Left-hander Tyler Holton struck out the side in the seventh inning: Cal Raleigh (swinging, 86.5 mph cutter), Hernandez (swinging, 82.4 mph changeup) and Taylor Trammell (swinging, 91.4 mph sinker).
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Holton also picked up two outs in the eighth inning. The 26-year-old — he turns 27 a month from Saturday — retired all five batters he faced and dropped his ERA to 2.60 across 17⅓ innings in 10 appearances this season.
Right-hander Will Vest entered to face Ty France, a right-handed hitter, and gave up a single, but he struck out Kelenic with a fastball at the top of the strike zone to escape without damage.
Vest returned for the ninth inning and allowed the first two batters to reach safely (a single and a walk). The Tigers turned to left-hander Chasen Shreve, and the Mariners scored two more runs to take a 5-0 lead. They were the first earned runs credited to Vest this season.
Hernández delivered an RBI single with one out, and three pitches later, Eugenio Suarez scored on a wild pitch.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.