Tigers look to bounce back in Sunday rubber match with Mariners at Comerica Park

The Detroit Tigers carry a bruising lesson into Sunday’s series finale against the Seattle Mariners after a shutout loss derailed momentum on Saturday afternoon. Yahoo Sports reported that Detroit’s four-game winning streak ended in the 4-0 defeat at Comerica Park, and the bigger takeaway from the loss was how quickly the Mariners put the Tigers behind in the middle innings.

Seattle broke the game open with a mix of patience and hard contact against Detroit starter Keider Montero. The Tigers managed only two hits total, while Mariners starter Bryce Miller worked through the lineup with control, allowing one hit across six scoreless innings. Dominic Canzone produced the most damaging at-bats, driving in two runs with extra-base hits that included a long home run over the center-field fence. CBS Detroit, reporting from the Associated Press, also described a sequence in which Montero surrendered a leadoff triple to Colt Keith in the third and then walked batters while delivering just one strikeout over five innings.

The scoring started in the second when Canzone doubled off a 412-foot mark in center, scoring Randy Arozarena. Arozarena later added to the early cushion with a two-run double in the third to make it 3-0. In the fourth, Canzone capped the day’s biggest swing by starting another rally with a 451-foot homer that pushed the game further out of reach. MLB’s Film Room recap for the game summarizes the outcome as a 4-0 Seattle win with Montero charged for four runs over five innings and Miller credited with the scoreless stretch that kept Detroit from stringing together serious rallies.

The loss matters for more than one day of standings. It also interrupts what had been a steadier run for Detroit over the first portion of the weekend. The Tigers had won Friday night’s opener 7-3, giving them a split in the first two games and setting up Sunday as a true rubber match rather than a formality. With both teams heading into the finale under different levels of urgency, the contest becomes a referendum on whether Detroit can translate its offensive intent into production against a starter they will face for the third time in the sequence of matchups.

On the mound for Sunday, the probable pitching matchup features Luis Castillo for Seattle and Jack Flaherty for Detroit. MLB’s probable pitchers list sets the first pitch for 1:40 p.m. Eastern at Comerica Park and pairs Castillo (2-5, 5.53 ERA) against Flaherty (1-7, 5.31 ERA). CBS Detroit’s Associated Press write-up of Saturday’s game also previewed the same starters for the finale, reinforcing that this is the planned matchup rather than a late reshuffle.

Castillo’s role for Seattle comes with the expectation that the Mariners will try to repeat the pattern from Saturday, where they limited Detroit’s hit-making and made the damage count once the game opened up. Flaherty’s challenge for Detroit is to avoid the kind of early-to-mid inning drift that left the Tigers chasing all afternoon. With Seattle holding the current edge in the series after the 4-0 shutout, Detroit needs both an improved first turn through the lineup and stronger run prevention to avoid letting this weekend slip into a sweep.

Sunday’s game is also a chance for both clubs to reset their rhythm in a season where series outcomes can swing momentum quickly. At the time of MLB’s probable-pitchers update, Seattle was listed at 34-31 and Detroit at 26-39, numbers that frame how much each extra win can matter over a long schedule. For Detroit, the practical focus is getting back to baserunners, because Saturday’s two-hit total left the bullpen with little margin. For Seattle, it is maintaining the contact quality that produced extra bases and quick leverage hits, especially from the kind of middle-of-the-order swings that changed the complexion of Saturday’s game.