[jksander]

May 25, 2026: Drew Rasmussen (1-2, 3.61 ERA, 42.1 IP, 46 K’s, 1.25 WHIP) pitched against Detroit’s Nick Martinez (3-2, 4.27 ERA, 46.1 IP, 32 K’s, 1.21 WHIP). We took the lead in the top of the fourth with a single by Tauchman, adding on moments later with a single by Vargas to go up 2-0, and Rasmussen was as sharp as we’ve seen him all year, striking out the side in the bottom of the inning to give himself seven K’s in his first four innings. But he got in trouble quickly in the fifth, loading the bases and walking in a run with the bullpen warming -- Eduardo Bazardo came out with the bases loaded and two outs, getting Kerry Carpenter to pop out to right to end the inning with us still ahead 2-1. In the top of the seventh Valenzuela hit an RBI triple to add on, and Ha-seong Kim hit an RBI single to give us a three-run cushion as we went into the stretch ahead 4-1. Jose Alvarado took the ball with two outs and men on first and second in the bottom of the seventh, getting out of the inning with a groundout to first by Carpenter. Ryan Helsley took over in the ninth with the three-run lead still intact, and with one out he blew the shutout when pinch-hitter Thayron Liranzo hit a two-run homer out of left to get Detroit on the board. But two quick outs from there sealed it as we beat the Tigers 4-2! Bazardo got the win, improving to 3-0 with a 3.00 ERA, lasting two innings with a hit, a walk and two strikeouts, while Alvarado earned his fourth hold and Helsley took save number three. We outhit Detroit 9-3, led by Vargas and Valenzuela who each had two hits, a run and an RBI (while Vargas also had a walk).

The improbable has happened, as Cleveland took a 6-0 shutout loss in LA against the Dodgers tonight, giving us solo control over the divisional lead ... this May turnaround has been unreal for us, and we’re just doing what we can on the field to keep it going! We don’t have a ton of “personalities” on this team, but we do have strong leadership, particularly among our pitchers, with Rasmussen and Burke taking charge and keeping everyone on track.
 
May 26, 2026: Noah Schultz (2-2, 2.20 ERA, 57.1 IP, 71 K’s, 0.75 WHIP) pitched against Kris Bubic (2-6, 5.04 ERA, 44.2 IP, 39 K’s, 1.68 WHIP), and we took control quickly, thanks to an RBI double by Mears and a flyball single by Vargas to lead 2-0 midway through the first. The Tigers got on the board with a solo homer in the bottom of the inning by Spencer Torkelson, and Dillon Dingler hit a dinger to tie it up a blink of an eye later ... two quick outs and then suddenly we couldn’t buy one, until with runners on second and third, Schultz finally got Matt Vierling to ground out to first, so we could get up to hit in the second tied 2-2. But he’d thrown 31 pitches to do it, not a great sign for him to last long in this one if he stays that wild. We settled in well, though and in the top of the fourth we retook the lead on an RBI double by Kim, adding another when Kim scored a few minutes later off a wild pitch to go up 4-2. Schultz got us throgh the fifth inning just fine, and held his own through the sixth to get a quality start after the rough beginning. In the top of the seventh we added on via back-to-back sac-flies by Tauchman and Lipcius, and Alvarado took over in the bottom of the seventh, with Jonathan Cannon keeping us going in the eighth. We added on a pair in the ninth and Cannon stayed out to finish things as we shut them down 8-2. Schultz improved to 3-2 with a 2.27 ERA, allowing six hits and two runs with six strikeouts in his six innings, while we again outhit the Tigers 12-9. Vargas led our offense with three hits, a walk, a run and an RBI, while our DH Lipcius hit once for a pair of RBIs.

May 27, 2026: Dylan Cease (3-3, 2.97 ERA, 57.2 IP, 59 K’s, 1.04 WHIP) pitched against Tarik Skubal (2-4, 3.16 ERA, 62.2 IP, 73 K’s, 0.97 WHIP) in our final game of the Detroit series, and this time the Tigers took the early lead, a solo homer by Thomas in the leadoff spot giving them a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. But we tied it up in the top of the second when Lipcius grounded out to first and drove home Tauchman, and that started a back and forth battle. Detroit went back up 2-1 with a two-out RBI single from Thayron Liranzo in the bottom of the third, and they added on with an RBI single by Kerry Carpenter in the bottom of the fifth to lead 3-1. Ceddanne Rafaela got us back within a run thanks to an RBI single in the top of the sixth, and we brought out Merryweather in the bottom of the seventh, and the Tigers pounced, scoring off an RBI double by Carpenter to add on. Helsley took over in the eighth but it didn’t matter, we didn’t have the offensive firepower to get back into this one, losing to Detroit 4-2 -- we got the series win, but couldn’t quite get the sweep. Cease fell to 3-4 with a 3.11 ERA, allowing eight hits, a walk and three runs while striking out five in his six innings, and we were out hit 11-6, our offense led by Tauchman with a hit and a run, and by Rafaela with a hit and an RBI.