Game 38: Offense Scarce Again as Tigers Drop Seventh Straight

Detroit (May 27) -- In their last victory, which seemed like eons ago but was a week ago Monday, the Tigers erupted for 16 runs. They spoke afterward of how it might have been a sign of things to come.

It was a sign, alright. A sign that even one of the league's worst offenses can have a breakout game.

Nothing more, nothing less.

The Tigers lost again tonight, 4-2 to the Minnesota Twins at Tiger Stadium. It was their seventh straight loss. In those seven games, the Tigers have scored 15 runs---one less than they scored in their last win on May 19.

"I sound like a broken record, but all you can do is show up, work hard and hope you bust out of this," manager Ralph Houk said after tonight's game. "There's no magic cure. A batting slump is like a common cold. You just have to wait it out."

Houk's words would be heartening if it wasn't for the fact that, aside from a handful of exceptions, the Tigers' bats have been maddeningly inefficient.

They have 359 hits as a team, but have only scored 135 runs. It is by far the worst such ratio in the American League.

"We seem to be really good at getting runners to third base," veteran catcher Bill Freehan said. "But that's where they seem to stop."

Not tonight.

Other than the two runners who scored, the Tigers managed to get just two runners to second base, let alone third.


LaGrow struggled yet again; in nine starts he's 1-7 with a 5.94 ERA


The Tigers did kick up their heels in the ninth, putting runners on first and second with one out, but fireman Tom Burgmeier set down Aurelio Rodriguez (strikeout) and Tom Veryzer (fly ball), and the Twins picked up their second consecutive win in this three-game series.

Tigers starter Lerrin LaGrow (1-7, 5.94 ERA) had another rough start, giving up two runs in the first inning. The first four Twins reached base to start the game, and that may have set a record for the earliest the boo birds came out this season.

The Twins added another run in the second. Freehan doubled home Leon Roberts in the Tigers' second to make the score 3-1. The Tigers crept closer in the third when Danny Meyer singled to right, scoring Ron LeFlore, who had walked and took second on a ground out.

Minnesota's Eric Soderholm delivered a clutch two-out single in the fifth to plate Rod Carew for a 4-2 lead, which stood up.

Twins starter Bert Blyleven breezed through innings 4-thru-8, surrendering just two singles along the way. Burgmeier came in after Freehan stroked a one-out single in the ninth. Pinch-hitter Mickey Stanley greeted Burgmeier with a single, and what remained of the crowd of 15,768 stirred, thirsty for some sort of a rally.

But that was as close as the Tigers got to tying the game.

The Tigers (14-24) have lost 12 of 15.

Notes: Remember when 2B Gary Sutherland was the league's darling---leading the circuit in hitting with a .400+ BA? After last night's 0-for-4. Sutherland (.308) officially dropped out of the top ten in batting average...Houk was non-committal when asked if LaGrow would be dropped from the rotation, even temporarily. "He's not the only one struggling," Houk correctly said. "I could replace three of them, to be honest. But I can't. And I don't think it's time yet, anyway"...The Twins' Tony Oliva went 4-for-5, making him 6-for-10 in the series so far.

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Tigers record: 14-24 (actual 18-20)
Home: 7-13
Away: 7-11
Last 10: 1-9