[Trending News] Orioles 8, Tigers 7: Undefeated season comes to an end

After taking an early lead, the Detroit Tigers bullpen struggled late to lose this one to the Baltimore Orioles. The Tigers fall to 2-1 in Grapefruit League action. Unacceptable. Ok, the only thing unacceptable is that too many of these games still have no broadcast at all, but we’ll have to live with it. At least there’s more coverage than there used to be.

Ok, we’ve had our fun. The games don’t matter, but the players do. Jackson Jobe looked fine, topping out at 99 mph repeatedly, and showed off the new curveball a few times. He struck out Adley Rutschman swinging over what appeared to be a changeup based on the phone video the beat writers were providing. Unfortunately there was no coverage of the game, and not even Statcast data available.

Jobe had a snappy 1-2-3 first, but then walked Tyler O’Neill with one out in the second. A grooved fastball to Heston Kjerstad was lined over the wall the opposite way, and Jobe finished with just one strikeout to one walk and two runs in over two innings of work.

Kjerstad’s shot only tied the game, however. In the top of the second inning, Zach McKinstry singled and rode home on two-run blast from center fielder Ben Malgeri, who has had a hot bat in the early going.

Keider Montero took over and pitched through a pair of singles in a scoreless third. In the top of the fourth, Trey Sweeney drew a walk and Riley Greene unleashed a true no-doubter to break the tie and make it 4-2. Greene would finish 2-for-2 with a homer and a walk, while Kerry Carpenter went 3-for-3, all singles, on the day.

Brant Hurter pitched a scoreless bottom of the fourth with a little traffic stranded on the bases.

In the fifth, old friend Gregory Soto took the mound and was greeted with a single from Spencer Torkelson. Jahmai Jones pinch-hit for McKinstry and doubled in Torkelson. Jones then took third on a wild pitch and scored on a Malgeri single. 6-2 Tigers.

Hurter surrendered a run in the bottom half of the inning to make it 6-3 Tigers.

Justyn-Henry Malloy, who reportedly looked pretty good at first base, led off the sixth with a double. Andrew Navigato doubled him home to make it 7-3. That was it for the Tigers offense.

Lefty Sean Guenther allowed a run in the sixth to make it 7-4. Brenan Hanifee handled the seventh, getting a double play ball to clean up the inning after a walk and a single allowed.

Non-roster invitee RHP Ryan Miller took over for the Tigers in the eighth, and it did not go well. He gave up a two-run shot, and then issued a walk before old friend, Daz Cameron, spanked an RBI double to tie the game. RHP Chase Lee took over, but couldn’t prevent the Orioles from getting Cameron in with the eventual game winner. The Tigers went down quickly in the ninth to take the loss.

Overall, it was a pretty good day. Nice to see Riley and Kerry come out swinging a hot bat. Jobe looked good, but the occasional bout of bad command bit him in the second as a couple of loose pitches led to a nine-pitch walk of O’Neill after Jobe was ahead 0-2. He wasn’t happy about that at-bat in particular, as Jason Beck reported.

“I think [I was] focusing too much on getting him to chase instead of just executing,” Jobe said. “If he puts a bat on it, he puts a bat on it. At this point, honestly, I’d rather give up an 0-2 hit than give up an 0-2 walk and waste five more pitches. That’s just stupid, can’t happen.”

After missing with the first pitch to Kjerstad, Jobe tried to overpower him right down the middle and paid for it. Both Montero and Hurter were a little rusty but otherwise solid.

Defensively, Jace Jung made a nice diving play on Ramon Laureano, scrambling to his feet in time to throw him out. And as noted, Malloy looked comfortable at first base. Jake Rogers struck out three times but did cut down a would-be base stealer.

Otherwise, there is little to report without the ability to actually see the game, hear a Dan Dickerson broadcast, or view the Statcast data.

The Tigers will be home against the Twins on Wednesday at 1:05 p.m. ET as the reigning AL Cy Young award winner takes the mound for his first start of the season.