'I'm going for it': Despite loss, depleted Tigers showing their toughness

SEATTLE -- In a quiet visitors' clubhouse after the Tigers’ stunning 4-3 walk-off loss to the Mariners on Thursday night at T-Mobile Park, one thing about Detroit’s young group stood out.

This team will not change its tough, opportunistic mindset.

Yes, an argument can be made that right fielder Ryan Vilade should have caught the bases-loaded, sinking line drive off the bat of Mitch Haniger with two out in the bottom of the ninth inning that instantaneously turned a two-run lead into a one-run defeat. But these Tigers seem to have no interest in adhering to rote narratives. Despite the fact that they were sellers at the Trade Deadline and they’re in the midst of a slight rebuild, they’re coming to play every night. And that means nobody was faulting Vilade for diving in all-or-nothing fashion.

That much was evident when rookie infielder Colt Keith turned to Vilade and whispered words of support to him before patting him on the shoulder as the media waited to speak about the pivotal final play.

“I got a good jump to where if I catch it, the game’s over,” Vilade said. “I should have caught it, and it sucks that I didn’t. It sucks because we would have swept them. But guys have my back. Everyone came up to me [afterwards].

“But I wouldn’t change it. I’m going for it. We’re going to play aggressive.”

The Tigers had won the first two games of this three-game set on the strength of good pitching, solid defense and timely hitting. That script was being written once again despite the Tigers’ injury- and trade-depleted pitching staff having to craft a bullpen game.

Reliever Brenan Hanifee, who finished Wednesday night’s game and started Thursday, played the “opener” role to near-perfection. He pitched the first two innings and didn’t give up a run or hit while walking one.

Southpaw fireman Bryan Sammons took the baton and cruised along through 4 1/3 innings of his own, the only blip coming on a Luke Raley solo home run in the sixth.

It took a while for Detroit’s bats to figure out Seattle starter Bryan Woo, but they found a way. Woo was perfect until Bligh Madris opened the fifth with a single, Justyn-Henry Malloy followed with a base hit and Parker Meadows doubled in the team’s first run. Two batters later, Zach McKinstry doubled in two more and the Tigers had the lead they wouldn’t relinquish until the final pitch of the game.

Lefty Tyler Holton and righty Will Vest handled the final 2 1/3 innings, with Holton inducing two double-play balls and Vest coming within one out of the save before Haniger’s hit.

“Hanifee was good,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “Holton was really good again. Sammons was really good. We threw the ball really well, and we played really well tonight. We had some really good at-bats against another tough pitcher, he missed some bats tonight, we got the lead and we just couldn’t hold it.”

Vilade might not have been in right field at all if minor injuries hadn’t occurred. Shortstop Javier Báez was a late scratch because of a sore neck, which pushed Zach McKinstry to short and Matt Vierling to third base, opening up right field for Vilade. Then Vierling exited the game because of back spasms and was replaced by Gio Urshela.

Still, Hinch didn’t want to blame the musical-chairs episode for the way things turned out.

“We can’t judge him by one missed play,” Hinch said of Vilade. “He’s made a lot of plays, and it’s unfair to pile on him about one play. This guy can play out there. He just missed the play.

“You give your best effort and you do everything you can. All the kid did was try to make a play. I know it sucks that it doesn’t go our way, but I’ve got his back. Everybody in there has got his back.”

One of those players was Hanifee, who called the loss a “big gut punch.”

“It’s just a shame that the ball was able to skip by him and the runs were able to score,” Hanifee said. “You can’t fault the effort. That’s just the way it goes.”

And the season keeps going, too. As the Tigers finished showering and getting ready to head to the airport for a flight to the Bay Area for a series against the Giants, Hinch tried to keep things in perspective for a team that’s sticking together through challenging times.

“We won the series against a really good team,” Hinch said. “We head to San Francisco now to play another tough team.”