Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
Every year, every MLB team goes through a rough patch or two that seemingly dictates their record for a solid week or more at a time. The Detroit Tigers are going through such a stretch right now.
In fact, since finishing a series sweep of the Houston Astros on May 5, the Tigers are 4-8. At that time, the Tigers had the second-best record in all of baseball, and now they aren’t even in the top team in their division.
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A big reason for their struggles in the past two weeks has very little to do with hitting and a lot to do with pitching. They have an ERA of over five in that stretch and the starting pitchers have all — except for Rick Porcello, surprisingly — experienced a ballooning of personal ERAs.
Porcello has been the lone bright spot in the starting lineup, seeing his ERA go from 7.52 to 5.92 in the Tigers’ recent rough patch.
Unfortunately, that can’t be said about the rest of the starters. Doug Fister has gone from 2.48 to 3.62 while going 1-1 with two starts of at least four earned runs. Ace Justin Verlander has gone from a 1.55 ERA to 3.17 with a 1-2 record and two starts with three or more earned runs.
It doesn’t stop with those two. Max Scherzer has been struggling all season, but he finally got his ERA down to 3.43, just to see it rise to 3.98 after his last poor start. In fact, Scherzer has allowed three or more earned runs in five of his eight starts. Lastly, Anibal Sanchez has seen his spectacular 1.97 mark take a hit and elevate to a still-solid 2.77 ERA.
Whether it’s just a pitching struggle, or a new trend, this is something that is wearing on the bullpen as well. The bullpen has pitched a little over 17 innings in the most recent series and thrown about 300 pitches.
One thing is for sure: the starting pitching needs to perk up if the Tigers want to stay in the hunt in the long-run.
Connor Muldowney is a columnist for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @Connormuldowney, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
