Tigers end miserable August with blowout loss to Twins

Chris McCosky, The Detroit News on Aug 31, 2026

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

MINNEAPOLIS — Good riddance, August.

Hard to believe earlier this month, the Detroit Tigers twice were within a game of .500 and held, for a day, a share of the final wild-card spot.

Seems so long ago.

The Tigers closed out the month on Monday with another somnolent performance, dropping the first of three to the Minnesota Twins, 11-1, at Target Field.

It was their 13th loss in 16 games and finished the month with an 11-16 record. They have fallen 11 games under .500 (63-74) for the first time since July 4.

The offense has gone into early hibernation. The Tigers have scored one run or less against the last six starting pitchers they faced, not counting the Rays' Ian Seymour, who pitched two scoreless innings as an opener.

They were blanked for five innings by right-hander Taj Bradley before rookie Hao-Yu Lee led off the sixth with a prodigious 439-foot homer to center. It was his eighth homer this season.

Lee got two of the Tigers’ four hits off Bradley, who struck out nine in seven innings. He finished his outing by punching out Max Clark and Lee. Against Lee, he hit 100 mph with his 100th pitch of the night.

It wasn’t much support for Tigers’ starter Jackson Jobe. He didn’t get a lot of defensive support, either. He ended up with five runs on his ledger in five innings, four of the runs were earned, two of them on long, majestic home runs.

Former Tiger Kody Clemens tomahawked a hanging curveball to lead off the fourth inning and drove it 399 feet onto the concourse in right field. Clemens is having a breakout season at age 30 with 23 homers.

Then, in a messy fifth that began with an error at third base by Lee, Ryan Jeffers smoked a 97-mph four-seamer 420 feet to left-center, a three-run homer that put the Twins up 5-0.

The Tigers were charged with two errors but there were several other mental errors and misplays.

The Twins scored six runs, three in the fifth and three in the sixth, with just two hits.

Right-hander Yilber Diaz, just recalled from Triple-A Toledo, walked the bases loaded in the sixth. He threw nine straight balls in one stretch. All three runners scored on a single to right by Brooks Lee.

Zach McKinstry fielded the ball and threw out Lee trying to stretch his hit into a double. However, shortstop Kevin McGonigle lost track of Luke Keaschall, who motored all the way around and scored from first, a three-run single.

Jeffers homered again, this time leading off the seventh inning off Diaz.

The Tigers finished the game with McKinstry pitching the bottom of the eighth. He gave up a two-run homer to rookie Walker Jenkins, his first big-league homer. McKinstry's velocity range was from 33 mph to 83.5 mph.

Rookie John Peck, whose contract was purchased from Triple-A Toledo earlier in the day, made his debut, playing shortstop in the eighth.

____