PHILADELPHIA — Try though he might, Ron Gardenhire could not stretch the Detroit Tigers’ bullpen to the end of the road trip.
Gardenhire tried to get four innings from his bullpen, taxed heavily during this eight-game, three-city trip, on Wednesday night, but it was too much to ask.
Pitching for the sixth time in eight days, rookie Victor Alcantara took the loss, allowing three hits in a four-run bottom of the seventh inning. The Tigers lost, 7-3.
Alcantara was put in a tough situation, summoned with the bases loaded and one out, and left a pitch up to Maikel Franco, who whacked a three-run double into the right-center gap.