The Detroit Tigers are headed home after an unsatisfying road trip in which they mustered only two wins.
The Tigers lost to Baltimore 5-3 on Sunday afternoon at Camden Yards, dropping a three-game series to the struggling Orioles. The Tigers (11-15) lost two of three to the Pittsburgh Pirates earlier on the trip.
Tigers starter Daniel Norris was knocked out of the game in the third inning after experiencing groin tightness, but reliever Alex Wilson provided 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to keep the Tigers in the game.
Orioles third baseman Pedro Alvarez, who was a late addition to the lineup card after Danny Valencia was scratched, hit two home runs -- a two-run homer off of a Norris in the second, and a solo shot for insurance in the eighth off Joe Jimenez.
Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera left the game in the fifth inning with a bicep spasm.
WORTH NOTING
* Victor Martinez drew a two-out walk in the fourth inning, reaching base for the first time in 21 regular season plate appearances against Kevin Gausman. (He doubled against him in the 2014 American League Division Series).
* Tigers outfielder JaCoby Jones, Gausman's teammate at LSU, knocked him out of the game with a single in the sixth. Jones is now 3-for 6 in his Major League career against Gausman.
* Tigers backup catcher John Hicks is a native of Goochland, Va., about three hours from Baltimore. He had a large contingent of family and friends in attendance on Sunday.
Hicks got the Tigers on the board with a solo home run to lead off the fifth, but struck out with the bases loaded to end the sixth.
* Tigers rookie Victor Reyes was rounding third base to score on Jose Iglesias' double in the third inning when third base coach Dave Clark threw up a late stop sign. Reyes stopped, restarted, then got stuck in the middle and was thrown out trying to scramble back to third.
The Tigers lost two players to injury: Left-handed starting pitcher Daniel Norris (left groin tightness) and first baseman Miguel Cabrera (left biceps spasm). Norris once again showed diminished velocity and lasted only 2 1/3 innings.
He allowed three runs. Alex Wilson replaced Norris and saved the bullpen admirably. John Hicks hit his second home run of the season.
The Tigers are 11-15.
Norris? fastball velocity was in the upper-80 m.p.h. range. He was tagged for a lead-off home run by Trey Mancini and a two-run home run by Pedro Alvarez in the second inning. Both homers came on 87 m.p.h. fastballs.
Manager Ron Gardenhire and head athletic trainer Doug Teter came out to the mound in the third inning, but Norris made it clear he wanted to stay in the game. He was overruled. Norris walked two batters and struck out two.
In front of friends and family, Hicks hit a solo shot off Orioles righty Kevin Gausman in the fifth inning.
Jeimer Candelario doubled home a run in the seventh inning, followed by an RBI bloop double from Niko Goodrum. The doubles pulled the Tigers within a run.
Thrust into emergency duty, Wilson threw 2 2/3 scoreless innings, another example of his everyday value.
Buck Farmer allowed a run on two hits and a walk in the sixth inning. He struck out three.
Daniel Stumpf walked the first two batters in the bottom of the seventh but escaped damage.
As the final score suggests, the Tigers did score runs today. In the fifth inning, John Hicks launched his second home run of the year with his family in attendance, the bright spot in a troubling day. Furthermore, Jeimer Candelario and Niko Goodrum both doubled in the seventh inning to pull the team within one run. Unfortunately, Pedro Alvarez would quickly hit a towering home run that just cleared the wall in right off Joe Jimenez to give the Orioles a two-run lead.
While Jeimer Candelario was the team?s MVP at the plate today, he struggled mightily in the field in the seventh and eighth innings. In the seventh, Candelario forgot to cover third base as Jace Peterson and Manny Machado executed a successful double-steal. In the eighth, the Tigers got Caleb Joseph into a rundown, but a Jeimer Candelario error on Dixon Machado?s throw led to Joseph being safe at third base. Daniel Stumpf and Joe Jimenez did not allow any of these runners to score, but it sure was not fun to watch.
The Tigers struggled mightily at the plate, as well. Nicholas Castellanos struck out twice in a miserable 0-for-4 day, while John Hicks, Victor Reyes, a pinch-hitting Leonys Martin, and Dixon Machado combined for seven strikeouts in the bottom third of the lineup. Kevin Gausman was not spectacular today (and relied heavily upon his fastball all day long), but he managed to pitch five-and-two-thirds innings while allowing five hits, three walks, and only one run.
Brad Brach surrendered two runs on doubles by Jeimer Candelario and Niko Goodrum, but all four of his outs were strikeouts.
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