Tigers fall to first-place Guardians in rain-delayed opener

Chris McCosky, The Detroit News on May 18, 2026

Published in Baseball

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DETROIT — Detroit Tigers’ manager AJ Hinch sounded the battle cry before the game.

“We know the division runs through Cleveland,” he said. “As much as we want to say otherwise, they’ve done it. We have to take that personally and overcome them to get where we want to get to. That’s just the truth.

“I don’t want to bow down to them. I don’t want to celebrate their wins. But they put them up there. I see this as an opportunity to stand up for ourselves.”

His message didn’t immediately resonate.

The Cleveland Guardians (27-22) widened the already sizable gap between their lead in the Central Division and the last place Tigers (20-28), taking the first of four games 8-2 at Comerica Park in a game delayed 42 minutes at the start by a rainstorm.

The Tigers have lost 11 of their last 13 games. They scored three runs or less in 10 of those games.

This one felt like rock bottom.

The Guardians scored seven unanswered runs after the Tigers scored a run in the first inning. Jose Ramirez (with a single and double), Chase DeLauter (on two ground outs) and Rhys Hoskins (double and sacrifice fly) each knocked in two runs.

Ramirez added a solo homer, his eighth, off lefty Enmanuel De Jesus in the ninth.

Lefty Framber Valdez, the Tigers’ $115 million free agent signing this offseason, battled his command as much as he did the Guardians’ hitters. He walked four and got himself repeatedly into destressed counts, giving up four runs in five innings.

Lefty Brant Hurter, who has been one of the bullpen bright spots this season -- coming in with a 2.01 ERA, an 0.94 WHIP and holding hitters to a .169 average -- walked two of the four hitters he faced and allowed three runs.

Valdez and Hurter, two left-handed pitchers, walked left-handed hitting Steven Kwan, who came in hitting .201, three times.

The hill was far too steep for the struggling Tigers’ offense to climb.

Right-hander Slade Cecconi, who entered with a 5.60 ERA and a 1.58 WHIP, stymied the Tigers for seven innings.

After posting two hits (including an RBI double by Riley Greene) in the first inning, they managed two more singles through the seventh. They weren’t getting hits, nor were they hitting many balls hard.

They put 20 balls in play against Cecconi with an average exit velocity of 84.6 mph. They hit four balls with an exit velo of 95 mph or harder.

The last one was a 400-foot homer to left by Matt Vierling, his fourth. That came leading off the eighth, with the Tigers down by six runs.

Insufficient. Frustrating.

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