Tigers squander 8-run lead in loss to Halos

DETROIT -- The replay review that led to A.J. Hinch’s first ejection as the Tigers' manager lasted about three and a half minutes. The five innings that followed had to feel like three and a half hours as Hinch watched from the clubhouse.

When Hinch took issue with a catcher’s interference call that put a second runner on in the fifth inning against rookie starter Matt Manning, the Tigers had an eight-run lead. It wasn’t the call itself that Hinch disputed, but the delay that allowed the Angels extra time.

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Little could Hinch have imagined then that he’d be talking about a 13-10 Tigers loss. The disputed call made no difference in the outcome, but it didn’t diminish Hinch’s headache or frustration as his team prepared to head to Toronto with a bullpen that was overtaxed and underperformed this series.

The Tigers gave up 24 runs in the series sweep, their first time being swept at home since the White Sox did it in June. Detroit’s bullpen was charged with 18 runs, all from the sixth inning on, including 11 runs off five relievers Thursday.

“We’re not in a good place with the bullpen,” Hinch said. “We’ll have to talk about it, and we’ll obviously regroup. Confidence-wise, we’re going to be fine. This is a good group of relievers. They’re going to be able to bounce back from this. But yeah, I have concern going into Rogers Centre and having Toronto’s offense and some difficult matchups, but it’s the big leagues.”

Part of the struggles begin with a rotation that’s struggling to cover innings. Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal and Matt Manning gave up two runs each this series, but only Skubal completed five innings. Manning used 96 pitches over 4 2/3 innings. Ten pitches went to Jo Adell in a one-out second-inning walk ahead of Brandon Marsh’s triple, scoring one run and setting up the other.

“For the most part, I was battling some pretty average command,” said Manning, whose four walks set a high for his brief big league career. “Pretty much I only really had my slider working.”

Manning regretted trying to pitch too carefully to Jared Walsh on a four-pitch walk with one out in the fifth inning, but he had already used up eight pitches to strike out Phil Gosselin despite an 0-2 count. He was more aggressive to Justin Upton, jamming him on an 0-1 fastball, but a review concluded that catcher Dustin Garneau reached out and got his mitt in Upton’s swing path.

“They called a foul ball, which was a missed call. I don’t blame Justin Upton for arguing,” Hinch said. “I don’t blame [Angels manager] Joe Maddon for coming out and having what should’ve been a brief discussion with the home-plate umpire to go to the headset.

“We have a process. [Crew chief] Hunter [Wendelstedt] at second base came really late. I don’t know why the conversation continued. We’re icing the pitcher there on a reviewable play. There’s a process put in place to speed up the game when there’s a discrepancy on a call like this. So when I came out to talk to Hunter after the three-and-a-half-minute delay, it was to tell him that I thought he was wrong. And then when I was past the line going back to the dugout, he kept screaming that it was bull and I was putting it on him, and then he tosses me out of the game. And that’s the definition of bull.”

Suddenly, bench coach George Lombard’s first work as a manager was trying to keep a 10-2 game from tightening. But neither Hinch nor Lombard could do much about the procession of relievers that followed.

The last time the Angels came back from an eight-run deficit to win, Dick Schofield led off an eight-run ninth inning with a single and ended it with a walk-off grand slam off Tigers closer Willie Hernandez. That was Aug. 29, 1986.

Unlike that game, the Angels whittled away at Thursday’s lead, starting with a six-run sixth inning that included back-to-back bases-loaded walks from Joe Jiménez -- who was ejected by plate umpire Quinn Wolcott for arguing as he was about to be pulled -- and a two-run triple from Marsh off Kyle Funkhouser. Walsh added an RBI double off Michael Fulmer in the seventh before Max Stassi’s two-run homer put the Halos in front for good.

‘We didn’t do anything right on the mound at the end of the game,” Hinch said. “We struggled to throw strikes, we struggled to control damage and then they just kept pecking away at virtually every reliever. I mean, this loss stings.”