00:00On Friday night at Comerica Park, the scattered cheers that rippled through the late innings
00:05weren't random at all.
00:06Every time the Pistons hit a bucket down in Orlando, pockets of Tigers fans tracking the
00:11NBA playoffs on their phones erupted, tossing an occasional DETROIT BASKETBALL into the
00:18evening air.
00:20While the Pistons were fighting to keep their series against the Magic alive, the Tigers
00:24were piecing together a comeback of their own against the Rangers, only to let it slip
00:29away late.
00:31Detroit's baseball team isn't staring at a now-or-never moment the way their basketball
00:35neighbors are, not with May just getting started, but as they sifted through a 5-4 loss, their
00:41fifth defeat in seven games, the deeper worry sat squarely, on a rotation in disarray, and
00:47a pitching staff stretched thin.
00:49We're going through a few things, manager A.J. Hinch said.
00:53Obviously the pen has been leaned on quite a bit.
00:55There are guys that are not feeling at their best.
00:58That's what we're working through.
01:01This isn't just about struggling starter Jack Flaherty, it's the ripple effect of a bullpen
01:06forced to cover heavy innings for the second time in four days, with a bullpen start looming
01:11Sunday for injured Casey Mize's spot, versatile arm Will Vest's availability in question, and
01:17Justin Verlander still trying to work back from his left hip injury.
01:21There's no off day coming until after Flaherty's eye next outing on Wednesday against the Red Sox,
01:26a pitching group that opened the season as the team's backbone now raises more questions than
01:31Detroit's offense, and easy answers are nowhere to be found.
01:35Just keep working, Flaherty said.
01:37Just keep working.
01:39A lack of work isn't what's holding Flaherty back.
01:41He continues to pour effort into his side sessions between starts, hunting for the small tweak or
01:46adjustment that will unlock the workhorse for Shun of himself.
01:51He's been at various points in his career, including last October, and the improved body
01:57language Flaherty showed on the mound Friday, compared to last weekend's three homer loss in
02:02Cincinnati, suggested he believed he found something.
02:05Flaherty didn't look like a pitcher bracing for things to go wrong, not even when Rangers'
02:09number nine hitter Danny Jansen drove a hanging slider deep to left to lead off the third inning
02:14and give Texas a 2-0 lead.
02:16Flaherty's undoing wasn't the fourth homer he's allowed across his last two outings,
02:20it was the back-to-back-to-back walks that immediately followed Jansen's blast,
02:24setting the table for add-on runs via Josh Jung's RBI single and Jock Peterson's sacrifice fly.
02:31That sequence marked Flaherty's sixth outing with three or more walks in seven starts this season,
02:37just three short of the total number of three-walk games he had, over 31 starts last year.
02:44He had only three such outings across 28 starts in 2024 between the Tigers and Dodgers.
02:50I don't think it's mechanical, Flaherty said. It happened a couple times last year,
02:54where I just felt like I would kind of lose the zone for three or four hitters in a row,
02:59kind of out of the middle of nowhere. Today I was on the attack and really good for two innings,
03:04and then that third inning right there, you just lose it for three hitters. It's just agonizing,
03:09it's frustrating, it ticks you off. I'm losing sleep over it every single day trying to figure
03:13out what goes on in that little bit right there. Figuring that out was the focus of Hinch's
03:17conversation with Flaherty when he pulled him after a two-out single in the fourth,
03:22just trying to encourage him, Hinch said. I mean, it's easy to get frustrated. We've got to stay
03:28behind him. We're with him. We know he's been good before. He's going to be good for us again.
03:33I just want to keep encouraging him because we need him. The Tigers leaned on Emmanuel DeJesus,
03:38Brennan Hannafee, Brant Herter, and Birch Smith to eat innings while they erased a four-run deficit
03:44by wearing down Rangers starter Mackenzie Gore and reliever Cole Wynn, but with Kyle Finnegan
03:50presumably unavailable after throwing 46 pitches over the previous two days and Vest having not pitched
03:56since last Sunday in Cincinnati, Detroit's best option was Smith, who surrendered back-to-back
04:01doubles in the eighth for the go-ahead run. On Vest, Hinch said before the game,
04:05Will's not at 100%. Moutra's not one abroad since wide. So, on Verlander slated to throw another
04:12bullpen session this weekend, Hinch said, we're really just trying to get through the bullpens
04:16without symptoms. It's why we're really just doing one step at a time. The hope is that he's able to
04:21add more and more every session. There's help on the horizon. Troy Melton, out since spring training
04:26with right elbow inflammation, will begin a rehab assignment on Sunday. Bo Brisk is facing hitters
04:31in Lakeland. Flaw, Connor Seabold, has resumed throwing after his left ankle sprain last week,
04:36but for now, they're grinding through all of it. So, as this pitching staff searches for its footing,
04:42and the Tigers try to weather these early storms, where does your concern really land? Flaherty's
04:47sudden lapses in command, the bullpen's mounting workload, or the injury list that keeps adding names
04:52when there's no off day in sight.
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