Tigers fall 1-4 to Rays, drop fifth straight
Detroit lost its fifth in a row Monday, a 4-1 defeat at home to Tampa Bay that leaves the Tigers seven games back in the AL Central with 25 losses left before they're mathematically out of it.
Five losses in a row, this one at Comerica Park
Rays1-4The Tigers lost 4-1 to the Rays at Comerica Park on August 24, their fifth straight defeat and the first of the stretch to come at home after three in Kansas City and one in Pittsburgh. Detroit has managed to win exactly one of its last five games, and Monday's loss made it none.
The run support has been the story of the skid as much as any single game: one run against Pittsburgh, two and one in back-to-back losses at Kansas City, and now one more against the Rays. Only the 7-11 loss to the Royals on August 23 broke that pattern, and it was still a loss.
Seven back, and an elimination number of 25
| AL Central | W | L | Pct | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 White Sox | 68 | 63 | .519 | — |
 Guardians | 66 | 66 | .500 | 2.5 |
 Twins | 64 | 68 | .485 | 4.5 |
 Tigers | 61 | 70 | .466 | 7.0 |
 Royals | 58 | 74 | .439 | 10.5 |
At 61-70, Detroit sits fourth in the AL Central, seven games behind the first-place White Sox and 2.5 behind Cleveland for the last spot the Tigers would need to chase. Only Kansas City, at 10.5 back, sits below them in the division. The elimination number is 25 — that many combined Tigers losses and division-leader wins would end things outright.
The five-game skid is what has pushed the number that low. A club that was competitive enough in July to be within shouting distance of the race has now lost every game it has played over the last week, and the gap between fourth and the top of the division has widened with it rather than closed.
Upcoming
Riley Greene, out with a hamstring injury, returned to Detroit and took part in conditioning work at Comerica Park before this series opener, Evan Woodbery of MLive.com reported. He has not been activated. On the mound, the Tigers host the Rays tonight with Jackson Jobe (1-1, 4.50 ERA) starting; his last outing came August 19 against the Pirates, 5.1 innings with three strikeouts and three walks. Tampa Bay counters with Casey Legumina (2-2, 3.99 ERA), who threw just 1.1 innings in his last start on August 8 against Seattle.
The market favors the Rays, and the total points to a low-scoring game. Given a Tigers lineup that has scored more than two runs once in its last five games and a Jobe start that came with as many walks as strikeouts, a tight, low-scoring night looks like the right read — the price would be wrong only if Detroit's bats find something they haven't shown all week.