Things worth mentioning…

• Let me just say this: JA Happ was better than his four earned runs over five line indicated. Jaimer Candelario, whoever that is, led off the bottom of the first with a homer, and then Happ seemed to have settled down. He stayed out of real trouble save for two doubles in the third, and then in the fifth, the center fielder formerly known as Superman botched an easy catch with two outs. It led to a run on the play and then another after a Nick Castellanos single. Because it wasn’t ruled an error, both were earned runs and affected Happ’s ERA, if that’s something you care about. Some good news is that he struck out eight hitters over five innings.
• Speaking of Kevin Pillar, his offense has dried up again. His OPS now sits at .731 after his 0-4 this afternoon. Just to give you an idea on how much it has plummeted, on May 11^th, 20 games ago, it was at .901. What makes matters worse is that his defense – which took a step back last year if you look at things like Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR) and Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) – now isn’t even good enough to warrant playing him if he reverts to a wRC+ in the 80s.
• The Maile man ended his dry spell going 2-2 with a double, home run, and walk. Vote Luke!
• Teoscar Hernandez fouled a ball off of his foot in the fifth inning, and even though that doesn’t sound bad, he was visibly limping for a while before the at-bat resumed. He eventually flew out and exited the game. He went for X-Rays and according to Hazel Mae, they turned out negative.
• The game was close until it wasn’t in the eighth after just three at bats. The Tigers went single, ground rule double, intentional walk, single, and sac fly to open up a three run lead in a rare bad outing from Seung-hwan Oh. Just when you thought they had a chance to snap out of their slide, that happens. They’ve now dropped five straight and 15 of their last 19.