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Chicago — Cubs All-Star centerfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong didn’t hurt the Tigers with his speed Monday night because they only let him on once.
He reached safely a lot Tuesday night to compound an awful night for Detroit.
Framber Valdez (5-7) couldn’t get out of the first inning, the Tigers didn’t generate much of anything at the plate until the game was far out of reach and any momentum from Monday’s 10-inning victory evaporated in an 11-2 rout.
Dillon Dingler hit a late two-run home run for the Tigers.
That’s about all that went right.
Crow-Armstrong went 2 for 2 with three walks and made a dashing catch at the center field wall to kill Detroit’s first chance.
The Tigers made a move earlier in the day to help an overworked bullpen but ended up sending infielder Zach McKinstry out to pitch the seventh and catcher Jake Rogers out an inning later.
The bottom of the first started with Crow-Armstrong’s speedy triple and the next six Chicago hitters piled on. Seiya Suzuki walked. Alex Bregman was grazed by a belt-high pitch. Former Tiger Carson Kelly delivered a two-run single. Michael Busch singled another runner home. Ian Happ made it 4-0 with a single.
The fifth run came home when Crow-Armstrong took a bases-loaded walk on Valdez’s 42nd and final pitch.
“There were no mistakes. No mistakes,” Valdez said through a team translator. “They just got to me.” Two-thirds of an inning, five hits, six earned runs, two walks and a strikeout: Not what the Tigers were hoping for from the left-hander, who was 11 days removed from his last start.
“They drove his pitch count up to 40-plus and just turned it into a really long, ugly inning,” Hinch said. “We started the day in a really deep hole and never really got out of it the rest of the day.”
Ty Madden, recalled from Triple-A Toledo earlier Tuesday to give the bullpen a bit of a break, got the ball and promptly walked Seiya Suzuki to make it 6-0.
Crow-Armstrong singled off Madden in the third to bring home a seventh run and Michael Conforto’s first-pitch, pinch-hit homer off Brenan Hanifee in the fifth turned the game into a laugher.
Cubs starter David Peterson (5-7) hummed through the first 6 2/3 innings, scattering three hits and a walk while striking out four.
Detroit had a pair of runners on in the seventh but Crow-Armstrong made a running catch of Ben Malgeri’s deep fly to end the inning.
Positives for the Tigers?
Dingler hit his 22nd homer off Aaron Civale – his third in two games – in the ninth to prevent a shutout.
Madden scuffled through 3 1/3 innings to give his bullpen mates a rest and McKinstry only allowed two runs and walked three while throwing gently overhand in the seventh. Rogers moved from behind the plate to pitch the eighth and left the bases loaded with a pair of strikeouts to end the frame.
“The two position players helped us get to the finish line,” Hinch said. “Today was, like, ‘live to play another day.’”
Detroit still can win its fourth straight road series with a victory Wednesday night.
The Tigers placed right-hander Jack Flaherty on the 15-day injured list shortly before the first pitch with right flexor inflammation but it did not appear he’ll need any longer than the allotted time off.
“It wasn’t a clear-cut IL,” Hinch said of the process leading up to the decision. “As the day went on and the more opinions we got, the more we realized he wasn’t going to pitch in five or six days.
“Thankfully, from a roster standpoint, we got the (Madden) here.”
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Tigers crumble after 'ugly inning' in 11-2 loss against Cubs
