This weekend, the Detroit Tigers claimed two of three from the Arizona Diamondbacks, including a 13-0 thrashing on Friday night at Chase Field in Phoenix. The defending National League winners have struggled this season, and the Tigers were pleased to add to their suffering this past week.
During Saturday’s game, D-backs manager Torey Lovullo got into a yelling war with Tigers starter Jack Flaherty, sparking some controversy. Cooler heads eventually prevailed, and the dugouts were luckily not empty, but there was no love lost this weekend when the two teams faced off in the desert.
Following Sunday’s game, Lovullo addressed to the media and was quite complimentary of the Tigers — possibly too nice.
 D-backs manager makes wildly inaccurate comments after loss
Following Sunday’s game against the Tigers, Lovullo stated, “The Tigers are a good team.” I wouldn’t be surprised if they caused a lot of noise inside the AL Central. “They’re finding their way.” That is a good evaluation. The Tigers have proved that if everything comes together, Detroit has a chance to compete for the AL Central this season.
But then Lovullo’s statements shifted from pleasantries to plain fabrications. “They do a really excellent job with two outs,” Lovullo said. “They can’t be put away. You cannot finish them off.” Is there another team called the Tigers that plays in Major League Baseball? Because if Lovullo is discussing the Detroit Tigers, he should do some research.
This season, Detroit has been dreadful at hitting with two outs. The Tigers are batting.With two outs in an inning, the batting line is 223/.296/.365. This season, Detroit is 20th in the major leagues with a.661 OPS with two outs. Torey, you made an admirable effort, but you fell short on this occasion.
 Kenta Maeda injury update
Kenta Maeda, who has recently been battling an illness, began his rehab stint with Triple-A this weekend. The veteran pitched three-plus innings for the Mud Hens, allowing one run on three hits and striking out six batters.
According to Jason Beck of MLB.com, Maeda has rejoined the Tigers at Kauffman Stadium for their upcoming series against the Kansas City Royals. While the Tigers are unlikely to activate the right-hander until just before his next start, Maeda appears to have done enough to reclaim his spot in the rotation. The Tigers want to reactivate Maeda later this week.
