WATCH: Tigers Lose In A Comedy Of Errors, Fans React
Die hard Detroit Tigers are searching their soul this morning trying to find faith.
I Know It's Early In the Season, But This Is Tough To Take
The game between the Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins in Minneapolis had all the earmarks of a big signature win for the Tigers.
On the road, against a tough division rival, the Tigers clawed their way to a 4-3, courtesy of a three run homer by new shortstop Javier Baez in the top of the eighth inning.
Great! Tiger fans were probably thinking at the time, that's why we signed Baez, to get big hits like that one!
And then the wheels came off the bus.
I Would Say This Ending Resembled A Little League Game
But that would insult Little Leaguers.
With Gregory Soto on in relief to close out the game, the pitcher got wild in the frigid air, walking the first two batters before striking out Max Kepler.
Just two outs away from the win, the next batter, Miguel Sano lifted a lazy line drive to Robbie Grossman. The Tiger right fielder appeared to have a camped under it nicely, but it skipped off his glove to the wall for an error.
The Twins runners seemed as surprised as Grossman, and got caught between second and third trying to score. The relay to the plate from Jonathon Schoop was wide to Tiger catcher Eric Haase, who seemed to panic with his throw to third base and it sailed over Jeimar Candelario's head.
If left fielder Austin Meadows had been backing Candelario up, they may have escaped with only one run scoring, but he didn't, and both Twins runners came across the plate for the walk off win.
Watch it (if you can stomach it) below:
Hardcore Tiger Fans Displayed Their Disgust
The reaction to the fiasco was fast and furious.
First up is Detroit sports maven Tony Dombrowski, who was dumbfounded at first, but collected himself in time to pimp some coffee.
Many compared it to a fire out of control:
Even Twins fans piled on:
Jon Morosi took a swing at the bright side:
It's early in the season, and the team is professional, and so this could be a turning point for them to take stock and get better from here on out. I hope that's the case because the Tigers would've been a contender last season if they didn't have a bad start.
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