dpUpdated Sept. 1, 2026, 11:51 p.m. ET
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — This is how it goes when it’s going bad.
And make no mistake, the Tigers are in full freefall at the moment.
It was a 1-1 game going into the bottom of the fifth inning. Right hander Troy Melton had dispatched 10 straight hitters. Five batters later, the Tigers were down 4-1 and on their way to yet another blowout loss.
The 15-2 drubbing by the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday, Sept. 1, was the Tigers’ 14th loss in 16 games.
“It’s a pretty low feeling,” manager AJ Hinch said. “We’re not in a good place right now. We’re not executing the way we’re accustomed to or the way we’re talented enough to.”
The snowball, which quickly turned into an avalanche, started when Melton walked Trevor Larnach to begin the fifth and Royce Lewis lined a double over left fielder Riley Greene’s head.
But Melton didn’t buckle. He induced two straight ground balls to rookie shortstop John Peck, who was making his first big-league start. Peck threw out Kaelen Culpepper and held the runner on the first one.
On the next one, hit by Walker Jenkins, Peck threw home and had Larnach trapped.
But catcher Dillon Dingler’s throw back to third base sailed into left field and both runs scored.
“My perspective was that he got (Larnach) running back and was in between steps when he threw it,” Hinch said. “It was high from the get-go. He was running with all the gear on. His mask was still on and with no play at the plate, he’s trying to get him back to third and he didn’t execute the throw.”
Dingler wasn’t immediately available for comment afterward, but it was reminiscent of a play made by catcher Eric Haase in 2022, when his errant throw into left field led to the game-winning run.
It was a play that broke the Tigers’ back on this night.
“It was an extra out when we felt we were closer to getting out of the inning,” Hinch said. “Turned out, the inning was just beginning.”
Jenkins scored on a single by Luke Keaschall and the avalanche was on.
The Twins chased Melton in a nightmarish sixth inning. Royce Lewis hit Melton’s 96th pitch, a hanging, first-pitch slider, 427 feet into the shrubs in center field, a three-run homer.
Before that pitch, Melton had given up a single on a ground ball that eluded second baseman Gleyber Torres and then he hit Larnach with a pitch. There were a couple of balls hit toward Torres that he was unable to get to. He was pulled out of the game after the sixth.
“He’s healthy,” Hinch said when asked if Torres was dealing with anything physical.
It went from worse to dreadful after that.
The Twins sent 15 batters to the plate in what became a 10-run sixth inning. Reliever Kyle Finnegan was able to record just one out while allowing five runs. The big blow was a three-run homer by Ryan Jeffers, his third in two games.
Beau Brieske, just added to the roster, gave up two runs on three singles and a walk before getting the final out.
The Tigers hadn’t endured a 10-run inning since Aug. 24, 2015 at Cincinnati. It was the most lopsided loss to the Twins since a 20-6 debacle in August of 2014.
“Obviously, the leadoff walk to Larnach is not good and hitting him was not good,” said Melton, who was charged with seven runs, five earned. “Both times he scored. Those are the only free baserunners I gave up and both came back to bite me. I thought I did a good job of throwing first pitch strikes but I got beat on a few of them.”
Melton threw 22 first-pitch strikes to 25 hitters. But Lewis doubled and homered off first-pitch strikes. Keaschall’s RBI single in the fifth was on a first-pitch strike.
“The slider to Lewis was really bad,” Melton said. “It was right down the middle. On the other ones, I was just trying to get ahead. Process-wise, I don’t think it was as bad as the results were. I think I’ve had a lot of starts where the process was worse than that and the results were better. It’s just a really tough time to do that with how last night went and the vibe around what’s been going on.”
The vibe is dour.
“I don’t think it’s an effort problem,” Melton said. “I think everyone in here is giving everything they’ve got to win. It’s just not going our way right now and it’s tough. Back-to-back blowouts, it’s not fun to be a part of at all and guys are upset with it. But we understand it is what it is and we have to keep grinding and keep playing. There is still a lot of baseball to be played.”
Peck, who made his big-league debut in the eighth inning Monday, went hitless in four at-bats, though he reached on an error in the fifth.
“Definitely some nerves,” said Peck, who flew out to the warning track in right-center in his final at-bat. “Once I got that first ground ball, that first at-bat, I kind of settled in. Felt more comfortable after that.”
The Tigers (63-75) have lost six straight series.
“We’ve got to keep working,” Hinch said. “We’re going home again with another difficult loss that we’re going to have to deal with coming to the ballpark tomorrow.”
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