DETROIT _ The Detroit Tigers have been pressing, manager Ron Gardenhire said Saturday afternoon. They're squeezing their bats too hard. Trying too much to get something _ anything _ going offensively.
"We have to try to get back to enjoying the game of baseball again," he said. "We're pressing an awful lot."
They will try to get back to enjoying baseball again tomorrow.
On this day, they lost again to the Oakland Athletics _ their sixth straight overall and 15th straight to the A's _ unable to do anything offensively. Matthew Boyd allowed four runs in 6 1/3 innings and they lost, 4-1, at Comerica Park.
Boyd pitched OK _ two pitches he left up in the zone resulted in two home runs, and three runs _ inducing plenty of swings-and-misses. He bounced back from his four-inning start against the Houston Astros on Monday.
He allowed four runs on seven hits to the A's (22-25). He struck out eight and walked none.
Boyd allowed a two-run home run to backup catcher Nick Hundley in the top of the third inning, which was enough for the A's.
The Tigers (18-26) scored one run on five hits. Their lone run scored when Ronny Rodriguez doubled and scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the fourth.
Making his second start of the season, A's righty Daniel Mengden allowed just that run on three hits in seven innings.
The Tigers have not held the lead once in the past six games.
Boyd bounced back nicely from his first real struggle of the season. He pitched the Tigers deep into the game _ they are approaching a much-needed off-day on Monday _ and was effective, save for a pair of home runs allowed. In the third, Hundley hit a two-strike pitch out to right field, and in the seventh, Chad Pinder homered to left-center field. Boyd continued to rack up strikeouts, but pitching with no offensive support, he was unable to get the win.
For the second consecutive night, the Tigers couldn't do much against a back-end pitcher. On Friday night, righty Frankie Montas was one out from a complete game. In this game, Mengden kept the Tigers off balance, controlling the game from the start. JaCoby Jones was the only Tiger to reach base twice � he went 2-for-3 � and the Tigers only recorded one extra-base hit. They left five men on base and went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
With the focus on the Tigers' beleaguered pitching staff for much of the past week, their offense has been non-existent. They are not getting enough hits, making too many run-of-the-mill pitchers look like Cy Young, and can't seem to sustain rallies. In Saturday's game, the Tigers put multiple runners on base once, in the first inning, when Miguel Cabrera and Nicholas Castellanos walked. Cabrera singled in the ninth, pulling ahead of Lou Gehrig for No. 63 in major league history, with 2,722 hits.
