Detroit Tigers TV voice Jason Benetti didn’t hold back from telling the truth.
“This is the kind of defense you can’t win a ton of games with,” Benetti said on the FanDuel Sports Network Detroit broadcast Friday, July 25, reacting to mistakes by the Tigers in the fourth inning, as left fielder Riley Greene failed to catch a fly ball and Javier Báez made a wild throw.
Those mistakes led to two runs, and the Tigers lost 6-2 to the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday in the second of four games in the series at Comerica Park — their fifth loss in a row and 11th in 12 games.
The Tigers (60-45) have a 7½-game lead over the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Central. Just 17 days ago, the Tigers had a 14-game division lead.
In the fourth inning, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a ball off right-hander Keider Montero to the warning track in left field that Greene should’ve caught, but he mistimed his jump and failed to catch the ball, resulting in a double for Guerrero.
Addison Barger then drove in Guerrero with a double to tie the game at 1-1.
With two outs in the inning, Joey Loperfido hit a grounder to Báez at short for what should’ve been an easy conclusion to the fourth. Instead, Báez made a bad throw that first baseman Spencer Torkelson couldn’t save, allowing Barger to score and give the Blue Jays a 2-1 lead.
From there, the Blue Jays took command for the second straight night — scoring four runs in the fifth inning, highlighted by Guerrero’s RBI double off Montero’s curveball and Bo Bichette’s two-RBI double off Montero’s sinker. Both big swings were on the first pitch.
“Let’s go, Blue Jays” chants broke out after the extra-base hits.
The Blue Jays extended their lead to 6-1 when Alejandro Kirk hit an RBI single against left-handed reliever Tyler Holton, who replaced Montero but inherited a runner, to cap the four-run fifth inning.
Montero allowed six runs (five earned runs) on nine hits and zero walks with three strikeouts in four-plus innings, throwing 76 pitches. The 25-year-old has a 4.66 ERA in 15 games (nine starts) this season, along with a 4.72 ERA in his MLB career, spanning 34 games (25 starts).
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Spencer Torkelson homers again
It was too little, too late.
But Torkelson hit a solo home run — his second in as many games — in the sixth inning, tagging a middle-middle 92.3 mph sinker from right-hander José Berríos.
His 23rd homer in 99 games cut the Tigers’ deficit to 6-2.
The Tigers scored the first run of the game for a 1-0 lead in the second inning, thanks to Dillon Dingler’s RBI double.
Greene — the Tigers’ best position player — went 0-for-3 with one walk and three strikeouts. The two-time All-Star outfielder has a .192 batting average, four walks and 34 strikeouts across 19 games in July, with 12 multi-strikeout games.
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Brothers-in-law
Báez and Berríos are brothers-in-law.
Báez is a .067 hitter (1-for-15) with one home run, one walk and four strikeouts in 16 plate appearances in the all-time matchup, including an 0-for-2 performance with two strikeouts in Friday’s game.
In the second inning, Báez — a right-handed hitter — struck out swinging on a breaking ball that was located in the left-handed batter’s box, stranding a runner on second base. In the fifth inning, Báez struck out swinging on a down-and-in changeup with a runner on first base for the first out.
Berríos allowed two runs on five hits and two walks with six strikeouts across six innings, throwing 85 pitches. He generated 10 whiffs, with two of them occurring in his battles with Báez.
Berríos has a 3.83 ERA in 22 starts.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers lose fifth straight, 6-2 to Toronto Blue Jays