Detroit — Tigers’ manager AJ Hinch didn’t talk long after the Tigers’ lost their fifth straight game Saturday in almost inconceivable fashion, 6-5 to the Atlanta Braves before a stunned crowd on 38,079 at Comerica Park.
But he said a lot.
“I’m out of words today because I’m tired of talking about it,” he said. “We should stop talking and just get to the baseball. That’s what is ultimately going to get us to a better spot. And we did a lot of that today, a lot of it. And none of us are going home feeling good about it.”
The Tigers were one strike from putting a halt to this September free-fall. Instead, they were thwarted by rookie Nacho Alvarez Jr.’s career day.
Alvarez, in 59 career big-league games, had never hit a home run. But he hit two of them Saturday. Then, with two outs and two on in the ninth, he slapped a two-strike fastball from Will Vest, a pitch that was out of the zone, into right field to tie the score.
Jurickson Profar followed with another RBI single and the Tigers’ lead in the Central Division, at 9.5 games on Sept. 3, was down to one with seven games left.
“This is absolutely grinding these guys,” Hinch said. “It’s not a care factor. There’s no concern about the work or the conversation or the mood or the vibe. It’s a concern about the results and our guys know it. I love these guys and I’m going to continue to back them because of all the good we have done and all the good we can do.
“Like, what a miserable ride this has been for a short period of time. And guess who controls our destiny? We do. We just have to go out and play.”
Until the ninth inning, it looked like Spencer Torkelson had provided the magical swing that would awaken the Tigers from this September swoon.
His two-out, two-run missile deep into the seats in left field broke a 3-3 tie. It was Torkelson’s career-best-tying 31st homer. He hit a 3-2 curveball off right-hander Pierce Johnson, who had just been brought into the game. The ball flew 436 feet.
Torkelson’s emphatic fist-pump toward the dugout box spoke to the significance of that blast, as did the ecstatic reaction of the crowd.
“Cool moment,” Torkelson said. “Pretty emotional, fired the guys up. It felt like a big swing.”
But just like after Kerry Carpenter’s two-out, two-strike, bottom of the ninth homer against Cleveland earlier in the week, the euphoria didn’t last an inning.
It started in the top of the eighth.
Reliever Kyle Finnegan, who hadn’t allowed a run in 14.1 innings as a Tiger, made his first appearance since coming off the injured list. And the scoreless streak ended abruptly.
Alvarez, who had homered off starter Keider Montero in the third inning, homered again to lead off the inning. And he wasn’t done.
Vest, who was hit with a four-run 10th inning after Carpenter’s homer against Cleveland, gave up two singles to start the inning. But he struck out Michael Harris II and Sandy Leon, and got two strikes on Alvarez.
Then, four pitches later, Vest left a slider up to Profar and the game was flipped.
“It sucks,” Vest said. “I don’t know how else to describe it. You’re hoping you can come through there and get a win. Just have to get back after it tomorrow.”
Vest, whose fastball was back up to 97 mph, wasn’t in a mood to dissect his pitches.
“Sometimes you make good pitches and you get hit and sometimes you make bad pitches and get away with it,” he said. “It’s baseball. You can’t really control it once the ball leaves your hand. Just have to forget about it and get on to tomorrow.”
Until the eighth, the Tigers’ bullpen — Tommy Kahnle, Tyler Holton and Troy Melton — had dispatched 12 straight hitters to keep the score even, 3-3.
And Zach McKinstry, who dragged an 0-for-20 skid into his pinch-hit at-bat in the sixth, swatted his 12th home run, an opposite-field shot off right-handed reliever Hunter Statton, to tie the score 3-3.
“We’re obviously in a little funk but we’re not playing bad baseball,” Torkelson said. “It’s really close. We need to stay positive and trust that we’re one click away from getting hot.”
The Tigers, with the exception of a couple of clunkers, have played good baseball for the most part. And they did everything but finish off the win Saturday. Gleyber Torres and Jahmai Jones each had three hits. They played flawless defense and pitched four scoreless, hitless innings in the middle of the game.
“It’s difficult to accept,” Hinch said. “It’s difficult to explain. It’s hard to put into words what’s going on. But I know how much we fought today. I know how well we played. And then just an absolute punch right in the face. It was a frustrating day.”
The word snakebit comes to mind.
“Losing sucks, but we were one pitch away from winning that game,” Torkelson said. “We’re still in first place. We can’t let anything affect us too much. Just keep showing up to the yard every day expecting to win and putting in our work like winners do.”
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
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