Minneapolis — The action in the Tigers’ 2-0 loss to the Twins Saturday at Target Field, which took all of two hours and six minutes to complete, can be distilled essentially into two plays. Both came in the pivotal fifth inning and both involved third baseman Zack Short.
The first came in the top of the fifth and it ended up being the Tigers’ only scoring chance. They’d come into the game having scored at least five runs in six straight games but were limited to three hits and four base runners – two of those runners were wiped out on double-play balls — by six Twins’ relievers.
It was the ninth time they’d been shutout this season and the fourth time this feast-or-famine month.
“It’s always tough,” said Short. “You’re facing three different pitchers before the fifth inning. We’ve been hitting the ball the last week and a half. This was just one of those days.”
Twenty-six straight hitters came to the plate before anybody reached base until Short drew a two-out walk against lefty Brent Headrick in the fifth to break the seal.
Miguel Cabrera followed with a double into the corner in left. Short, getting an aggressive send home from third base coach Gary Jones, was thrown out on a close and video-challenged play.
“It was the fifth inning, 0-0 and they had to make two perfect throws and they did,” Short said. “We would do it again a hundred times out of a hundred.”
Former Tiger Willi Castro made a strong throw from left to shortstop Carlos Correa who threw a bullet to the plate. Short tried to slide around to the back of the plate. Home plate umpire Ryan Wills called Short out.
The Tigers challenged the call and multiple replay angles were shown on the giant screen. It was hard to see any conclusive evidence of a tag.
“They said they confirmed it,” said Short, who never felt a tag from catcher Ryan Jeffers. “Some guys said they saw his glove move. But I didn’t feel anything. I thought he was going to get me for not touching the plate.”
It was clear on the replay that Short finger-tagged the plate.
“They said they confirmed the tag,” Short said. “They must’ve had an angle we didn’t see.”
Manager AJ Hinch also asked for video confirmation that Jeffers’ block of home plate was clean. Which it was.
“We couldn’t tell if he got him,” Hinch said. “We didn’t have a perfect angle but they confirmed it. Their defense was a huge part of today. That relay and Correa has a cannon. It was a nice tag by Jeffers. We reviewed whether he blocked the plate but it wasn’t the case because the throw was outside the line.”
Said Short: “The throw took Jeffers that way. If it takes him the other way, I get around that tag even more.”
Meanwhile, Tigers’ lefty starter Joey Wentz, who spun arguably his best start of the season, was perfect through four innings and he’d struck out Kyle Farmer to open the fifth. But trouble ensued after he walked Royce Lewis.
“The walks always seem to come back to bite him,” Hinch said.
Castro — who else would it be — broke up the no-hitter with a single to left. Alex Kirilloff followed with an RBI single to right, sending Castro to third base.
Jeffers, up next, hit a bullet down the third base line. Short made a quick diving stop and threw quickly to second base. Any hope of an inning-ending double-play ended with Kirilloff’s hard slide into second baseman Nick Maton.
The second run scored on the play.
“Clean slide,” Short said. “If I had hit him in the chest (with the throw), I’m not selling Nick out there to get blown up. I got a palm ball with some dirt and Maton was sticking right in there. That’s who he is.”
Hinch also applauded Kirilloff’s aggressiveness there.
“That’s how you teach it,” he said. “We get so conditioned nowadays to think any contact is bad contact. But that was a normal slide into the base. Nick hung in there and tried to get the double-play. We didn’t get it but I had no problem with the slide.”
The two runs were insurmountable. Relievers Jose De Leon, Emilio Pagan, Headrick, Brock Stewart, Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran were impenetrable on this day.
“We let them get into the game a little easier than we had hoped,” Hinch said. “And they were able to set things up. They were able to dictate the game as they wanted to, which is what a bullpen game features.
“And when they took the lead, they could turn it over to a shutdown back of their bullpen.”
Wentz, though, was brilliant. After a rough month of May, his last two starts have been encouraging.
“We know it’s in there,” Short said. “For him to keep going out there, head down, back to work, after every outing, it was going to turn and he showed it today. He was getting ahead of guys. He punched out nine. He’s going to be a really good staple for this rotation.”
The nine strikeouts were a career high. He gave up just the two hits in six innings. He was commanding all four of his pitches – four-seam fastball, curveball, changeup and cutter – and throwing them in all counts.
“I thought everything was pretty good today,” Wentz said. “I was able to make some big 3-2 pitches, able to throw some 3-2 changeups in the zone. I got some takes (for strikes). I was making quality pitches and getting early contact and early outs.”
There were times during his struggles when he reduced himself to two pitches. He got swinging strikes (14) and called strikes (13) with all four pitches.
“For me it’s about committing to the pitch that’s called and not babying it,” he said. “Just commit to it and try to throw it hard. Just set my sights and whatever happens after that happens…I feel good about where I am. I feel like I’m improving. I just have to keep building.”
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky