00:00Before the first pitch on Monday at Target Field, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch warned his
00:05team about the mental challenge ahead. He told them the cold conditions would make this the
00:10toughest environment they'd face all year, with little natural energy from the ballpark,
00:14so they'd have to create their own. Hinch reminded everyone that both teams would play in the same
00:19cold, and the key was to focus on the competition, not the elements. Hours later, after a 7-3 loss
00:25to the Twins, a team Detroit beat 5 times in 7 games at this ballpark last season, the Tigers had
00:32a few hard lessons. Hinch noted that the temperature didn't get warmer when Minnesota batted, so the
00:37conditions were equal, but his team simply needed to play better regardless of the weather. It's
00:42tempting to call this just one bad night, temperatures in the 30s, a biting windchill, and a stomach bug
00:48that pulled Kerry Carpenter out of the lineup against a Twins team he has historically crushed.
00:52Career, 1.076 OPS vs. Minnesota
00:58The Tigers looked strong on their season-opening trip to San Diego and Arizona, and they outplayed
01:04the Cardinals in unseasonably warm weather last Friday and Saturday at Cameriki Park.
01:09But following Sunday night's 5-3 loss to St. Louis in similarly chilly conditions,
01:14they've now struggled on back-to-back cold nights. In both losses, the Tigers couldn't capitalize at the
01:19plate when pitchers were fighting for command. They went a combined 3-for-16 with runners in
01:24scoring position, stranded 18 total runners, and drew 7 walks in each game. Each loss also
01:30included a base-running mistake that came back to hurt them, plus, a defensive error that extended
01:36an inning, and the forecast suggests more of the same, slightly warmer for Tarek Skubal on Tuesday,
01:42but not by much. And while the final two games of this series may warm up, Detroit then returns home
01:48for a six-game home stand in Michigan's famously unpredictable spring weather. Monday's loss really
01:54came down to three moments. First, the odd bounce off the backstop. Spencer Torkelson and Riley Green
02:00took off on a wild pitch, but the ball hit the backstop and ricocheted right back to catcher Victor
02:05Caratini. Green saw it and retreated, but Torkelson kept going until he saw Green, too late to avoid a
02:11rundown. Hinch called it unlucky. A rare play because, usually, only balls in the dirt bounce
02:16that way, not air balls. Second, a missed ball in left field. Matt Veerling admitted he misread a fly
02:23ball as center fielder Parker Meadows' play, overran it, and flat-out missed the catch, putting two
02:29runners in scoring position, with no outs in the second inning. Casey Mize escaped that jam, but a 29-pitch
02:35second inning followed by a 28-pitch third led to the Twins' three-run breakout. Third, miserable
02:41conditions for Mize. After an outstanding season debut in Arizona, he never looked comfortable,
02:47walking three of his first 12 batters and struggling with command. His hard-breaking slider had no feel,
02:52so he leaned on his four-seamer, a smaller slider, and a splitter, which got three of his four strikeouts.
02:58As the temperature dropped, his fastball velocity faded, and the Twins took the lead for good on Luke
03:04Keishaw's two-run homer off a 91.4 MPH fastball in the fourth inning. Mize summed it up simply,
03:12tough night to pitch, which made it hard on me, but I didn't pitch well. So, Tigers fans,
03:19after seeing these cold-weather struggles two nights in a row, do you think this team can find a
03:26way to generate its own energy and clean up the little mistakes, or will the early-season chill
03:32keep holding them back?
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