Detroit Tigers’ Scott Harris explains 2025 MLB trade deadline
On “Days of Roar,” Evan Petzold walks listeners through trade deadline comments made by Detroit Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris.
The Detroit Tigers lost to the Minnesota Twins, 9-4, on Wednesday.Right-hander Jack Flaherty allowed six runs over 4â…” innings for the Tigers.It’s the second straight loss for the Tigers, and their fourth in six games since the MLB trade deadline.
On July 8, the Detroit Tigers controlled a 14-game lead in the American League Central. Just 29 days later, the Tigers’ advantage in the AL Central is down to six games.
The swing in the standings happened in a 23-game stretch, with 46 games remaining.
The latest cause for concern: The Tigers lost, 9-4, to the new-look Minnesota Twins on Wednesday, Aug. 6, in the finale of a three-game series at Comerica Park, dropping two of three games — and losing six of their last seven series.
At the July 31 trade deadline, the Twins parted ways with more than a third of their roster in a fire sale, including star players Jhoan Durán, Griffin Jax and Carlos Correa. On top of that, the Twins’ best player, Byron Buxton, landed on the injured list a couple days before the trade deadline.
The Tigers (66-50) lost back-to-back games against the Twins’ replacement players. After another the loss, the Tigers are 6-4 in their past 10 games, 7-16 in their past 23 and 33-33 in their past 66, dating back to May 22.
Right-hander Jack Flaherty put the Tigers in a hole from the beginning of Wednesday’s series finale, allowing two runs in the first inning. The 29-year-old gave up six runs (five earned runs) on eight hits and one walk with three strikeouts across 4â…” innings.
Flaherty has a 4.56 ERA in 23 starts.
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Not only did Flaherty finish with just four whiffs, but he didn’t generate his first swing-and-miss until the 53rd pitch of his 82-pitch performance. He had four whiffs on 35 swings for a season-worst 11.4% whiff rate.
The Twins tagged Flaherty for numerous extra-base hits.
All six runs: Luke Keaschall hit a two-run double in the first inning for a 2-0 lead; Brooks Lee hit a solo home run in the fourth for a 4-4 tie; Ryan Jeffers hit an RBI double and Keaschall hit an RBI double in the fifth for a 6-4 lead. The other run scored on Flaherty’s wild pitch for a 3-0 lead in the second inning.
It was a bad start for Flaherty after two good starts in a row.
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Three big swings
Three home runs gave the Tigers hope.
Spencer Torkelson hit a solo home run in the second inning; Zach McKinstry hit a solo home run in the third inning; Kerry Carpenter hit a two-run home run in the third inning. Those homers put the Tigers ahead, 4-3.
All three homers came off right-hander Pierson Ohl.
It was Torkelson’s 24th homer in 110 games, McKinstry’s 10th homer in 103 games and Carpenter’s 20th homer in 87 games. For McKinstry, he reached double-digit homers for the first time in his six-year MLB career.
Meanwhile, Carpenter continues to torch the Twins.
In his career, Carpenter is hitting .400 with seven home runs and a 1.200 OPS in 29 games against the Twins, spanning 110 plate appearances
Riley Greene finished 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.
Greene, 24, is hitting .173 with five home runs, four walks and 47 strikeouts in his past 28 games. He has struck out 40.9% of the time during that stretch. Even worse, Greene leads MLB with 153 strikeouts in 112 games, putting him on pace for 214 strikeouts.
The MLB record for strikeouts in a single season: Mark Reynolds with 223 in 2009, followed by Adam Dunn with 222 in 2012 and Chris Davis with 219 in 2016. The Tigers’ franchise record is 182, set by Cecil Fielder in 1990.
Bullpen struggles again
The Tigers entered Wednesday’s game with a 5.00 ERA from their bullpen since June 1.
The problem keeps getting worse.
Left-handed reliever Tyler Holton surrendered solo home runs to Austin Martin and Alan Roden in the sixth inning, with the Twins taking an 8-4 lead. Right-handed reliever Tommy Kahnle walked the bases loaded in the seventh before the Twins pushed their lead to 9-4 on an ensuing groundout.
In 2025, Holton owns a 3.97 ERA with 13 home runs allowed across 56â…” innings in 49 games. In 2023-24, Holton registered a 2.15 ERA with 16 homers allowed over 179â…” innings in 125 games.
His cutter hasn’t been as effective in 2025.
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