Detroit Tigers stumped by Cleveland's Triston McKenzie in 4-0 loss to Guardians

CLEVELAND — Cleveland Guardians right-hander Triston McKenzie entered Thursday's series opener with a 1.17 ERA in five career starts against the Detroit Tigers.

By the end of the night, that number dropped to 0.93 over six starts. On Thursday, the 24-year-old dominated the Tigers for 12 strikeouts across eight scoreless innings, carving them up with his firm fastball and nasty curveball.

The Tigers lost, 4-0, in the first of four games at Progressive Field heading into the All-Star break.

"We try not to carry any previous outings," manager A.J. Hinch said. "This is a different team than the one he's beat. Some similar names. But we knew we had our hands full. He's pitched well against the majority of our guys, and he did again tonight."

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Facing McKenzie, the Tigers (37-53) recorded five hits — all singles — and failed to draw a walk. He filled up the strike zone with his fastball while inducing chases with his breaking balls, with 11 of his 12 strikeouts coming on swings.

His previous season best was eight strikeouts against the Tigers on May 29 at Comerica Park. His previous career high was 11 against the Tigers on Aug. 15, 2021, at Comerica Park.

"Next time we see him, it's back to the drawing board," Eric Haase said. "We have to try to make some adjustments, because the adjustments we're trying to make aren't working, and he's one step ahead."

McKenzie's curveball racked up 10 swings and misses, to go with six whiffs from his fastball and two whiffs from his slider. He threw a career-high 109 pitches (78 strikes), using 58 fastballs, 27 sliders and 24 curveballs.

"Early it was the fastball, then he went to the breaking ball, then he went back to the fastball later in the game," Hinch said. "We didn't have a ton of good at-bats or good contact against him."

Rookie Riley Greene struck out swinging four times against McKenzie's curveball, in the first, third, sixth and eighth innings.

"At least his stuff to me, he was going fastball up, trying to change my eye level, and going curveball down," Greene said. "With him, I feel like his curveball comes out of the same spot as his fastball, so it's tricky."

The Guardians tacked on their fourth run in the bottom of the eighth, as Andres Gimenez smacked a second-pitch hanging slider from left-handed reliever Tyler Alexander for a solo home run.

El-Rod not so hot

What McKenzie accomplished, Tigers right-hander Elvin Rodriguez did not in his first MLB start since being demoted to Triple-A Toledo on June 11. He often worked from behind in the count and, although he battled at the end, lengthy second and third innings spoiled his latest opportunity with the Tigers.

Rodriguez threw first-pitch strikes to 12 of 27 batters.

"Consistency," Rodriguez said, when asked what he wants to improve. "Being a consistent pitcher and attacking the strike zone all the time."

He started his outing with a perfect first inning on nine pitches, but the Guardians wasted no time getting on the scoreboard for a 1-0 lead in the second inning.

Josh Naylor blasted a first-pitch fastball for a 401-foot solo home run to right-center. Rodriguez avoided further damage by stranding runners on the corners in the 24-pitch second inning.

"When he had success, he was ahead of hitters and throwing multiple pitches for strikes," Haase said. "We got jumped by Naylor. Solo homer, no big deal. But a couple base hits here and there put the dagger in us."

In the third, he threw 26 pitches.

The Guardians added two more runs, opening the inning with three consecutive hits. Steven Kwan won a nine-pitch battle and doubled to the right-field corner, and Amed Rosario tagged a first-pitch slider to put runners on first and third base.

Jose Ramirez put Cleveland ahead 2-0 with an RBI single on a 3-0 fastball. After Rodriguez earned two outs, Gimenez increased the Guardians' lead to 3-0 with an RBI double.

"I fell behind in the count in those innings, so they took advantage of that," Rodriguez said. "But right after that, I just changed my approach and was able to get out of the next innings."

Hinch intentionally walked Nolan Jones — a left-handed hitter playing in his eighth MLB game — to load the bases for right-hander Austin Hedges, who lined out to shortstop Harold Castro to end the inning.

"Picking our poison there," Hinch said. "Left-handed batters had gotten some pretty good swings against him throughout the game, so I was taking a shot against a righty who hasn't put up great offensive numbers. Luckily, we were positioned right and got out of that one."

Rodriguez responded to the damage with three straight scoreless innings. He threw 14 pitches in the fourth, eight pitches in the fifth and 13 pitches for two outs in the sixth.

A four-pitch walk to Myles Straw ended Rodriguez's outing with two outs in the sixth inning. Right-handed reliever Jason Foley entered for a matchup with Steven Kwan and finished the inning on five pitches.

Rodriguez allowed three runs on seven hits and four walks with four strikeouts across 5⅔ innings. It marked his longest outing at any level this season. For his 94 pitches (55 strikes), he used 54 four-seam fastballs, 20 sliders, 10 curveballs and 10 changeups.

Those pitches resulted in six swings and misses.

"I told him I was proud of how he responded to the outing," Hinch said. "He hasn't been up here a ton, and based on how he was the last time, he didn't back down. He continued to fall behind, but he battled and got us to the middle part of the game. I was proud of his effort."

Thrown a curve

The Tigers advanced a runner into scoring position for the first time in the sixth, thanks to Miguel Cabrera's two-out single. He pushed Victor Reyes to third base, but Haase struck out swinging on a curveball to strand the runners.

"We had the one opportunity where we had two (hits) in one inning," Hinch said. "That was positive with two outs, then we punched."

The below-the-zone curveball was McKenzie's best pitch.

Greene punched out four times in one game for the second time in his past seven games. Twice, the curveball got Haase to chase for the third strike, in the second and sixth innings.

"There were some pitches in the previous at-bats that I should have hit," Greene said. "I'm talking like middle, but I just fouled them back, and he put me away with his curveball."

In the seventh, Jeimer Candelario saw three pitches in his at-bat. He fouled a first-pitch fastball at the top of the strike zone and swung through a curveball below the strike zone.

McKenzie, ahead 0-2, went back to the curveball. This time, he dotted the pitch on the bottom edge of the strike zone, freezing Candelario for his only called third strike.

"You don't get many (fastballs) in the heart of the zone," Haase said. "It's all up (in the zone), and he's got good life on it, and his breaking ball looks the exact same. You kind of have to pick one and go."

Entering Thursday, McKenzie's opponents had a 43.7% swing-and-miss rate, .106 batting average and three extra-base hits off his curveball. The Tigers whiffed at 59% of his curveballs in Thursday's loss.

In the ninth, Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase slammed the door with three consecutive outs.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers stumped again in 4-0 loss to Cleveland Guardians