CINCINNATI — The Detroit Tigers arrived in the Queen City just one game below the .500 mark, riding high on a five-game winning streak with their two best pitchers scheduled to start against an otherwise lowly Reds team.
They leave three games under, hurt by the long ball, with an even tougher Ohio task in front of them: Three games against the American League Central Division-leading Indians this weekend.
For as much as the .500 record means little – it’s certainly not the ultimate goal this season – it did represent some sort of significance at this stage of the season, one which many thought the team would have already taken up residency in the basement of the division.