Tigers need to turn season around after being swept by Pirates

DETROIT -- You don't have to look far to see what the Tigers are capable of doing and should be doing.

The Tigers should be doing what the Pittsburgh Pirates are doing.

The Pirates (45-33) came to Detroit and swept a three-game series with a 5-4 victory in 14 innings Tuesday night, a 9-3 victory Wednesday night and an 8-4 victory Thursday afternoon.

One of the common denominators in each of those games is what the Pirates' starters did.

Although he didn't factor into the decision, Gerrit Cole allowed just two runs in 6 2/3 innings Tuesday.

A.J. Burnett allowed two runs in seven innings Wednesday, earning his seventh win.

Francisco Liriano out-did both Cole and Burnett Thursday. He did not give up a run and allowed just five hits in seven innings in the 8-4 finale.

"He's not just tough today, he's tough most times he takes the mound," Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said of Liriano. "He throws 92-93 miles an hour, he has a very good slider, very good change-up, he's a little sneaky on hitters. He's been throwing strikes a lot more than he has in past years. So he was a very good pitcher. We knew that this series we were facing three very good pitchers in Cole, Burnett and Liriano."

The loss meant the Tigers fell back to .500 at 39-39.

"You don't expect to be losing this many," Rajai Davis said. "We expect we're going to win every game. That hasn't happened but the thing about baseball is you have to stay positive in these conditions and you still have to believe that you're going to win the next day."

The Tigers countered the Pirates with Justin Verlander, who allowed three runs (two earned) in 6 innings-plus, while walking five; Alfredo Simon, who allowed six runs on a career-worst 15 hits in 5 2/3 innings; and Kyle Ryan, who allowed just two runs but lasted only 4-plus innings, walking five.

The bullpen has been very good at times, but less so at others.

Bruce Rondon helped turn a 4-3 deficit into an 8-3 deficit in the top of the ninth after not allowing a run in his first three appearances.

"We need to pitch better," Ausmus said. "We haven't pitched well recently. There's no question we need to pitch better. The backbone of a good baseball team is generally pitching, pitching and defense. Our defense has done a nice job overall. Recently we haven't pitched as well."

The Pirates were in their own funk in May, falling four games under .500 (18-22) on May 20.

Since then, they've gone 27-11. Unfortunately for them, they're in the same division as the St. Louis Cardinals, who have not had a funk at all, leading the majors at 51-26.

J.D. Martinez, who hit a three-run home run to cut the Pirates' lead to 4-3 in the eighth inning, doesn't want to get complacent before the All-Star break.

"It's easy to get kind of laid back -- we know the All-Star break's coming up, but I feel like now, going into the break, is when we kind of need to make up ground, keep it close, so that in the second half, when we do play the Royals, and we do play Minnesota, and all of our divisional teams more, it's a close game, and we can keep the ball in our court," Martinez said.  

The Tigers hoped their comeback win Sunday against Jeff Samardzija and the White Sox would be the spark that got them on a run like the Pirates have been on but it didn't happen.

"I think sometimes in my experience there's something that sparks a team and sometimes for an unknown reason, a team turns around, whether it's a gradual turnaround or a spark that turns it around," Ausmus said.

It likely needs to start with the starters.

Since the 18-22 mark, Cole has gone 6-1, Burnett has gone 4-2, Liriano has gone 4-2 and Charlie Morton has gone 6-1 since coming off the DL. 

Jeff Locke is 4-4 with a 4.55 ERA, so not everyone has to be firing on all cylinders for it to turn around.

But it has to start sooner than later.

"I'm definitely frustrated," Martinez said. "Last year, the biggest thing that I learned was how much fun that last month of September was. That's one thing that, if we don't start playing better, getting some wins, keeping it close, that last month's going to be a drag."