Colt Keith (Detroit Tigers photo)


After starting the season on the West Coast with two wins, the Detroit Tigers went on to lose a game in San Diego and three in a row against the Arizona Diamondbacks.


They now have a four-game losing streak and a 2-4 record.


The bats went cold at times, and relief pitchers blew a 5-0 lead against the Diamondbacks. On Wednesday, ace pitcher Tarik Skubal performed well, but the team lost 1-0. The Tigers play the home opener at Comerica Park on Friday against the St. Louis Cardinals.


Tigers infielder Colt Keith says there’s no need to panick.


“A lot of guys in this clubhouse have been through multiple, multiple seasons and they know how the flow of a season goes,” Keith said, according to the Detroit News. “I don’t think anyone in here is panicking. We’re pretty confident we’re going to turn it around and get back on track.”


Rookie Kevin McGonigle echoed similar sentiments, according to The News:


“Today, if you had a few defensive players one foot in the other direction, we would’ve had a couple more hits to get things going. When we hit it good, we hit it right at people. We can definitely have better at-bats, but I’m not panicking at all. I feel like we’re going to be fine.”


Veteran baseball writer Lynn Hennnig, who has a substack page “Tigers Intelligence Report,” wrote this the other day when Justin Verlander got knocked around pretty good and the Tigers lost 9-6 to the Diamondbacks:


Thoughts from Monday’s 9-6 semi-debacle at Chase Field and why Tigers followers need not succumb to whiplash after two consecutive tumbles following two triumphs at San Diego:


— This is baseball. This is going to be tough, this next six months (and probably longer) for a Tigers team that will remind its congregants continually how merciless is the MLB season.


— Justin Verlander had a sobering start Monday, not missing many Diamondbacks bats before being excused in the fourth. So, of course, he’ll probably have a Sunday night start against the Cardinals as sturdy as Monday night’s work at Phoenix was clunky. That’s also baseball. See if a Sunday rebound, in fact, is for Verlander a natural two-game opening script, reminding people he isn’t the pitcher of 10 years ago but probably can and will be the Verlander from last season’s second half. He’s expert at figuring things out.


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