Detroit — This one is going to leave a mark.
The Tigers were one strike away from snapping their eight-game losing streak Sunday. That strike never came.
The Arizona Diamondbacks scored four runs in the top of the ninth off reliever Jason Foley to extend the Tigers’ misery, sweeping the series with a 7-5 win at Comerica Park. The Tigers remain winless in June, nine straight losses.
BOX SCORE: Diamondbacks 7, Tigers 5
“It all sucks,” catcher Eric Haase said when asked if the nature of this loss might sting more than the others. “They’re all losses. It really doesn’t matter at the end of the year if you lose by 10 or you lose by one. But it definitely feels worse when you have a lead as long as we did today and with how much better we swung the bats and made a really good pitcher work.
“It is frustrating not to come up with the win.”
The sting lingers, too, given the amount of resources manager AJ Hinch invested in trying to get this win. Even with a scheduled bullpen game against the Braves on deck Monday, he managed his bullpen like he would a playoff game. He used, counting Will Vest who opened the game and pitched the first inning, six relievers.
He used Alex Lange to get a critical out in the seventh and then sent him back out for the eighth. He needed to use lefty Tyler Holton to get a huge out with the bases loaded in the eighth. And he still had to feel good giving the ball to Foley with a 5-3 lead in the ninth. Foley hadn’t allowed a run in his last six outings and had allowed only four earned runs all year.
“Listen, this is a good team that thrives late in games,” Hinch said. “They come from behind. They’re never going to quit. It’s a tribute to what they’re putting together over there. There’s a lot that goes on in that inning. Contact matters for them … their aggressive base running matters. The walk was a tough mistake. And not finishing at-bats when we had leverage — there were quite a few things in that inning.”
Foley got the first out, but he gave up a ground ball single to right-handed hitting Emmanuel Rivera and he walked Ketel Marte. Corbin Carroll, who had already tripled and doubled, singled in one run.
Foley got Lourdes Gurriel, Jr., to fly out and it looked like he was going to lock it down when he got two strikes on right-handed hitting Christian Walker. Walker was tardy on three straight two-seam fastballs — 98, 99 and 99 mph. But with the count 1-2, Foley threw a slider and left it over the plate.
Walker, way out in front of the pitch, managed to flip it into left field. Two runs scored, the second after left fielder Kerry Carpenter bobbled the ball. Geraldo Perdomo singled in the fourth run.
The slider to Walker wasn’t supposed to be in the zone.
“Leverage, 1-2, we didn’t execute a pitch,” Haase said. “But it started before that. They are good hitters. They took a lot of good pitches and went with the ones we did give them — just got a couple of base hits and drew walks. We put ourselves in a tough position from the get-go.”
That ninth inning ruined what was shaping up to be a rare good day for the Tigers.
They banged out 10 hits, including three for extra bases, against one of the premier right-handed pitchers in the game, Zac Gallen. They hadn’t done that in a while. They’d been beaten by a right-handed starter in all eight of the losses.
Carpenter, who is 8 for 12 since coming off the injured list, led the charge against Gallen with three hits. Jake Marisnick, who came in hitting .160, also had a pair of hits. Zach McKinstry had the big blow, a three-run homer in the fourth inning.
“Our at-bats early were really good,” Hinch said. “But we didn’t tack on (runs) like we’d like to. The quality of at-bat was pretty good but not complete. You have to play a complete game to beat good teams.”
To that point, the Tigers had runners at the corners with one out in the bottom of the ninth but didn’t score. Reliever Scott McGough replaced former Tiger Andrew Chafin and struck out Javier Báez before getting Nick Maton to ground out to second.
“We’re in that part of the season where the games are kind of meshing together and one thing happens and it leads to a little bit of frustration,” said McKinstry, who also saved a run with a spectacular diving catch in right field in the sixth inning. “A nine-game losing streak is tough. But we’ll come back tomorrow and be ready.”
The one positive, given the scoring drought the Tigers have been enduring, was being able to set a tone with the bats. Gallen came in with a 2.75 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP, but it was evident early that he didn’t have his best stuff. The velocity on his fastball was down 2 mph and that seemed to have a trickle-down impact on the sharpness of his secondary pitches.
The Tigers nicked him in the first inning with three straight two-out hits. Carpenter and Báez singled and Maton followed with a ground-rule double, scoring Carpenter.
They got him again in the third inning. Spencer Torkelson hit a line drive double off the wall in left field, the ball left his bat at 109 mph. He went to third on Carpenter’s second single of the game and scored on a sacrifice fly by Báez.
They had some fun in the fourth.
Miguel Cabrera slapped a one-out single. It was his 3,111th career hit, moving him past Dave Winfield into 22nd place all-time. Cabrera then turned back the clock, scoring from first on a bullet double to the left-center gap by Jake Marisnick.
McKinstry capped the inning with his fifth home run. He’d been in an 0-for-17 skid before launching a first-pitch cutter over the wall in right field.
“They couldn’t catch that one,” McKinstry said.
On a nine-game losing streak with the Atlanta Braves coming to Comerica Park for three games, with a bullpen game planned the day after six relievers were used — tough duty.
“We have a lot to sort out,” Hinch said.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky
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