Detroit ― The Tigers didn’t take any bad swings Monday. Of course, they didn’t take any swings.

The Tigers landed back home late Monday afternoon and opted against working out at Comerica Park ahead of Tuesday’s Game 3 of the American League Division Series against the Seattle Mariners.

The Mariners did go through a workout, hours after tying the series at 1-1 with a 3-2 win in Game 2 in Seattle.

The Tigers suffered another rough game at the plate in Sunday’s Game 2, managing just three hits, their fewest in a postseason game since they had two hits in Game 2 of the 2012 World Series.

For the postseason, the Tigers are batting .176 through five games. Without a five-hit outburst in one inning late in Game 3 against the Cleveland Guardians in the wild-card series, that number would be staggeringly lower.

Tigers manager AJ Hinch was asked Monday night if the issue was simply the reality that there’s better pitching in the postseason, or whether there’s an issue with his club’s approach. He wasn’t totally willing to let his players off the hook.

“We’ve got to get to pick better pitches to hit,” Hinch said. “And, now, that’s hard sometimes, when it’s 100 (mph) and a little bit of cut and a little bit of sink, and then the split, and then the change-up, and then when you say, ‘Don’t swing out of the strike zone,’ remember, Carp (Kerry Carpenter) hit a ball out of the strike zone for a big-time homer (in the Game 1 win).

“There’s no box to draw like we get to watch on TV, when you watch the game and you see the strike zone and you see it outside the box, ‘Oh, swing at strikes.’ That’s a pretty small margin go to deal with. It’s why these guys are the best in the world at what they do.”

The Tigers have faced two good pitching staffs this postseason, in Cleveland and Seattle, including two bullpens with a whole lot of swing-and-miss stuff. And the Tigers have struck out 59 times in five playoff games, or 11.8 times a game. For the regular season, Tigers hitters averaged almost nine strikeouts a game.

Some of that, Hinch insists, is this time of year, October, when the best teams and the best staffs are still playing.

Outside of the Toronto Blue Jays’ offensive explosion in two games against the New York Yankees, a 10-run game by the Los Angeles Dodgers last round and a nine-run game by the Milwaukee Brewers this round, scoring in this postseason has been modest.

The Tigers have scored more than three runs in a game once in five playoff games this year.

“Welcome to Major League Baseball,” Hinch said Monday. “When you advance to the Division Series, which we’ve done a couple times now in a couple years, you’re just going to face the good guys. You’re not going to face the ones that struggle and throw you middle-middle, 92, 94 (mph). Those guys don’t exist at this time of the year, so you’ve got to lock in your approach to make sure that they just swing at the right pitches.”

Eight Tigers have struck out at least six times in five playoff games, including Dillon Dingler and Zach McKinstry (eight), Carpenter, Gleyber Torres and Wenceel Perez (seven), and Riley Greene, Parker Meadows and Spencer Torkelson (three).

On Tuesday, the Tigers face Mariners right-handed starter Logan Gilbert, whom they faced twice in the regular season. He allowed three earned runs over 10.1 innings, striking out 19. He also walked four. For his career, Gilbert has a 3.28 ERA in five starts against the Tigers.

Back home (finally)

There was a time, not long ago, when the Tigers didn’t know if their next time at Comerica Park was going to be to clean out their lockers. Now, they actually get to play games in Detroit, their first since Sept. 21. The red, white and blue bunting, a sure sign of playoff baseball, was back in place, all over the stadium, for workout day Monday.

The Tigers closed the regular season with six games on the road, then beat the Guardians in three games in the wild-card series in Cleveland, before playing the first two games of the ALDS in Seattle.

“It’s nice to be home, because we had to earn it,” Hinch said. “You know, it took a lot to be back home. … So I think our guys will enjoy being back in Detroit, put on the (Olde) English D, the white unis. The crowd should be electric. And, we’re playing for, you know, potentially the series, certainly the momentum in the series.

“I’m proud of our guys for enduring the last couple weeks with some good baseball to get us here.”

The Tigers will have two sellout crowds for Games 3 and 4, as Detroit looks to snap a seven-game losing streak at Comerica Park. The Tigers last won at home Sept. 6, a month ago. They were 46-35 at home in 2025.

Naylor’s status

➤ Mariners slugging first baseman Josh Naylor’s status for Game 3 was up in the air Monday, as manager Dan Wilson said he was dealing with a personal matter. Wilson wouldn’t say if Naylor traveled to Detroit with the team. Recent reports said Naylor’s wife is due to give birth any day, and Naylor has vowed to be there.

“We’ll know more tomorrow,” Wilson said Monday. “We’ve got a plan in place.”

Naylor was a huge trade-deadline pickup for the Mariners, but is 0-for-8 in this series.

➤ Greene, the Tigers’ left fielder, was named one of 10 nominees in the American League for the Hank Aaron Award, which is handed out to the best hitter in each league. It was nice to be nominated, sure, but the award in the AL is certain to be won by New York’s Aaron Judge or Seattle’s Cal Raleigh. Riley had a career-best 36 homers and 111 RBIs.

➤ The Tigers on Monday were choosing to keep under wraps their ceremonial first-pitch throwers and national-anthem singers for Games 3 and 4.

AL Division Series

SERIES TIED AT 1

Game 1: Tigers 3, Mariners 2 (11 inn.)

Game 2: Mariners 3, Tigers 2

Game 3: at Tigers, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 4:08 (FS1)

Game 4: at Tigers, Wednesday, 3:08 or 7:08 (Fox or FS1)

x-Game 5: at Mariners, Friday, 4:40 or 8:08 (Fox or FS1)

x-If necessary

tpaul@detroitnews.com

@tonypaul1984

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