Ian Kinsler

Detroit Tigers second baseman Ian Kinsler is seen in the dugout before the first inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Aug. 14 in Detroit.

(AP Photo)

DETROIT -- Tigers manager Brad Ausmus isn't going to single out a player. In his eyes, everyone is to blame for Detroit's offensive collapse in the second half.

And he's right.

As a team, Detroit has hit .253 with a .684 OPS since the All-Star break after batting a league-leading .280 with an impressive .778 OPS in the first half.

For the most part, much of the lineup is at fault.

"It's really just been a lack of getting hits," Ausmus said after the Tigers' 8-1 loss Sunday. "Overall, with the offensive struggles, it hasn't been concentration that's been the problem. We just haven't been hitting."

With the exception of one or two players, the rest of the Tigers' starting lineup has been unable to replicate their success at the plate in the first half.

Whether it's because they've been pressing at the plate or swinging at poor pitches, the Tigers' potent offense has turned into applesauce.

"We gotta put pressure on the defense, pressure on the pitcher," Ausmus said. "We need to swing the bat better, period."

A few players have to start swinging the bat better than others, and one of those players was perhaps the team's MVP in the first half of the season.

Ian Kinsler batted .303 with 11 home runs, 26 doubles and 51 RBIs in the first half en route to being named an All-Star. He ranked first among second basemen in the league with a .470 slugging percentage and ranked seventh among position players in the AL with a 3.6 WAR, according to baseball-reference.com.

But in his last 31 games, Kinsler has hit .221 with a .248 on-base percentage and a .267 slugging percentage. With the exception of backup catcher Bryan Holaday, Kinsler's .515 OPS since the All-Star break ranks last on the Tigers.

"We're a better offensive team than what we've seen since the All-Star break," Ausmus said. "We just need to swing the bat better. We need to drive guys in from second, and we need to get guys in from third with less than two outs."

The Tigers managed just five total hits against the Mariners on Sunday, and finished 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position. Kinsler was largely to blame after he popped out twice with a runner on third base and less than two outs.

When all was said and done, Kinsler had gone 1 for 12 over the weekend. But Ausmus wasn't going to single him out.

"Ian has gone through stretches when he's swung the bat well, and he's gone through stretches when he's struggled a bit," Ausmus said. "And that applies to every single player. That's how baseball is. You have hot streaks and cold streaks."

Kinsler, of course, isn't the only player who has disappeared in the second half. But the four-time All-Star has had the largest dropoff among his teammates.

Take a look at the numbers comparing the first half of the season with the second half so far:

Ian Kinsler

First half: .303 batting average/.337 on-base percentage/.470 slugging percentage/.806 OPS

Second half: .221/.248/.267/.515

Miguel Cabrera

First half: .306/.364/.534/.898

Second half: .316/.393/.444/.837

Victor Martinez

First half: .328/.391/.599/.991

Second half: .322/.394/.417/.811

J.D. Martinez

First half: .346/.380/.653/1.035

Second half: .224/.283/.378/.661

Eugenio Suarez

First half: .265/.345/.429/.774

Second half: .195/.267/.273/.550

The Tigers are a mess right now. They've dropped nine of their last 14, they're 1 1/2 games behind the first-place Royals, and they're slipping in the wild card race.

The starting rotation is battling injuries. The bullpen is still very much out of sorts. But neither the rotation or bullpen proved to be the Tigers' undoing this weekend.

It was the offense, or lack thereof, that once again hurt the Tigers. And Kinsler did very little to help stop the bleeding.

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