Tigers' young offense navigating first rough patch

DETROIT -- The first-inning ball from Zack Gelof hit the railing down the left-field line, kicked over the cutout and rolled meekly into the corner, sending Tigers left fielder Riley Greene into a chase and Gelof rumbling into third base with a triple that scored Oakland’s first run and set up another. An inning later, Gelof connected with an 0-2 chase pitch from Jack Flaherty and sent it deep to left for a three-run homer.

“I mean, it was three balls above the zone,” Flaherty said after Detroit’s 7-1 loss to Oakland on Sunday. “He put a good swing on a ball where I put it probably where I want to, probably could’ve thrown it outside a little bit more. But tip your cap to him.”

With those two swings, Gelof got himself halfway to the cycle with seven innings to go; he finished a double shy in a 4-for-5 performance. He also had as many extra-base hits as the Tigers posted for the game.

The Tigers didn’t need a cycle. The way A's starter Joe Boyle flirted with the strike zone, one more hit in the bottom of the first inning -- after Gelof’s triple in the two-run top half -- could have changed the tone of the game.

Parker Meadows drew a four-pitch walk, Greene hit a 3-1 fastball for a single and the Tigers had runners at first and second with nobody out and the middle of the order due up. Spencer Torkelson got two fastballs he wanted in the upper half of the strike zone -- one a 2-0 pitch, the other on a full count -- but fouled off one and hit the other to center field, moving runners to the corners with one out.

Kerry Carpenter stepped into the box looking for a fastball and swung at the first pitch, a 96 mph heater on the upper inside corner. The ball cut in enough to snap Carpenter’s bat in half, leaving him holding the handle and little more as he looked around for the ball. A’s third baseman Abraham Toro had it, having caught the popup in foul territory.

Facing a 2-1 count, Colt Keith saw four straight fastballs, connecting on a 97 mph heater at the bottom of the zone. The resulting 107.6 mph ground ball was the fifth-hardest-hit ball of the game according to Statcast, and the only ball hit harder than 98 mph off Boyle over his five innings. It was chopped right to second base.

That set the tone for the Tigers’ second consecutive loss and first series defeat of the season. Boyle threw more balls (44) than strikes (43), and put the leadoff batter on base three times, yet held Detroit scoreless on two singles -- Keith’s fourth-inning liner to center was the other -- with three four-pitch walks and six strikeouts.

“He looks like he sprays the ball a lot, but the pitches are real,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “So you have to defend a lot of different things, whether it's a small little cut and Kerry gets his bat broken, or the ball moving just enough in advantage counts to pop up or a mishit. He was, I guess, what we phrase ‘effectively wild.’”

This is what president of baseball operations Scott Harris warned about when he cautioned that Detroit's young offense would struggle for stretches this season. The Tigers went 16 scoreless innings between Gio Urshela’s go-ahead double in the eighth inning of Friday’s home opener win and Greene’s solo homer in Sunday’s eighth inning. They were held to one run or less for the fourth time in nine games this season.

It’s not that Tigers hitters went chasing. They swung and missed just six times against Boyle, including five strikeouts. They got into two-strike counts with help from 18 called strikes, including 10 fastballs.

They didn’t dominate the strike zone, as the team likes to preach, but they generally stayed within it. They just didn’t do enough when they forced Boyle to throw pitches over the plate.

“I think [Boyle] spraying the ball quite a bit, the velo was really tough on us,” Hinch said. “We just didn't get a hit at the time in which we really needed it. And early in the game, we didn't get very many hits at all. We worked a couple walks, and it's a fine line between being disciplined and being ready for the middle-middle miss. We didn't really do either.”

That’s a fine line the Tigers’ young lineup could be negotiating for a good stretch.