[jksander]

September 5, 2025: Onward to Motown for three, as we pitched Yu Darvish (10-10, 4.27 ERA, 143.1 IP, 136 K’s, 1.30 WHIP) against Detroit’s Tyler Holton (7-7, 3.26 ERA, 138.0 IP, 122 K’s, 1.14 WHIP). After trading runs in the first two innings, we took the lead in the top of the fourth with a two-run homer by Michael A. Taylor that put us up 3-1 on the Tigers. Craig Kimbrel took over in the sixth inning, still up by a pair, striking out the side, and Martin Perez came out to pitch with one out, Matt Vierling on third in the botom of the seventh, promptly giving up an RBI double to Zach McKinstry and an RBI single to Colt Keith as we blew yet another lead. A three-run homer for Spencer Torkelson put the nails in, and Perez didn’t even get out of the damned inning. That job went to Jonathan Cannon, who got the final out and sent us into the eighth inning trailing 6-3 after the five-run bloodbath. Cannon stayed out the rest of the way, and we lost by that same 6-3 margin, Perez getting the blown save (his fifth) and the loss (his sixth) as he let them have five hits and four runs off him. We were outhit 13-8, Michael A. Taylor’s three hits, a run and two RBIs our only real bright spot after the collapse.

September 6, 2025: Noah Schultz (7-4, 3.36 ERA, 88.1 IP, 85 K’s, 1.03 WHIP) pitched against Thomas Szapucki (3-4, 5.14 ERA, 42.0 IP, 46 K’s, 1.50 WHIP), and we took the lead in the top of the second off a groundout by Valdes that scored Brooks, only to let them have it back in the bottom of the third with a Javier Baez solo homer. Schultz got us through the sixth with the score tied 1-1, but when our bats stayed silent he had to hand the ball off to Merryweather who got us through the seventh. Shane Smith pitched in the eighth, keeping us tied, and finally in the top of the ninth a Miguel Vargas RBI single put us into the lead! Eduard Bazardo came out in the bottom of the inning and kept them from making anything happen as we held tough to the 2-1 victory! Smith got the win, improving to 6-4 with a 4.50 ERA, and Bazardo earned his 10th save of the season as we outhit the Tigers 8-7 behind a three hit, one RBI night from Miguel Vargas.

Mike Tauchman is ready to come off the injured list, and we’ve waived Lenyn Sosa to make room for him.

September 7, 2025: Ryan Weber (6-9, 4.23 ERA, 134.0 IP, 76 K’s, 1.30 WHIP) pitched against Jack Flaherty (5-15, 6.55 ERA, 136.0 IP, 171 K’s, 1.46 WHIP) in our last game against the Tigers. Detroit took the lead in the bottom of the second with a sac-fly by Dillon Dingler, but Yordys Valdes tied it up with an RBI single in the top of the fifth and Weber got us through the sixth inning without letting them have an inch. Penn Murfee took over in the bottom of the seventh with the score still tied 1-1, but with two outs Colt Keith hit an RBI double to give them back the lead. Chase Meidroth hit an RBI single to tie it back up in the top of the eighth, and Merryweather took the ball in the bottom of the inning, keeping it that way into the ninth. Shane Smith got us into extra innings with three quick outs in the bottom of the ninth, but Gleyber Torres walked it off in the bottom of the 10th with a single into left, beating us 3-2 to take the series win. Martin Perez took the loss, falling to 5-7 with a 5.20 ERA with a hit, a strikeout and the unearned run. They outhit us 9-7, our bats led by Meidroth who had two hits and an RBI.

We’re off tomorrow and then will play Tampa (66-76, 4th AL East) in Chicago for three and then hit Cleveland (74-68, 3rd AL Central) for our last three divisional games. After that we’ve got two weeks of play remaining, including home series against Baltimore (73-69, 3rd AL East) and San Diego (70-72, 3rd NL West), followed by road series against the Yankees (84-58, 1st AL East) and the Nationals (61-81, 5th NL West). Our 58-86 record has us seven games out of fourth in our own division, and we’re now the worst team in the majors not playing in San Francisco (the Giants are 52-90).