L.A. 8, Detroit 7: Comeback cut short; Tigers lose 5th straight

Alfredo Simon followed his best pitching performance of the season with his worst.

The Detroit Tigers right-hander allowed a season-high eight runs in an 8-7 loss to the Angels on Tuesday night at Comerica Park. Simon threw three run-scoring wild pitches. He threw 102 pitches over 4 1/3 innings.

BOX SCORE

"Had trouble throwing strikes, had trouble getting ahead of guys," Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said of Simon. "It was kind of a 180 from the last outing."

Simon pitched a one-hitter for the first complete game shutout of his career in his last start, a 4-0 win over the Rangers at Comerica Park onThursday.

Simon allowed nine hits, four walks, three wild pitches and hit one batter against the Angels.

The Angels took a 4-0 lead in the first inning on three hits and one walk. Simon allowed each of the first four batters to reach base. He gave up a leadoff walk to Kole Calhoun, a single to Trout, then a three-run home run to left by Pujols. David Murphy followed with a double to center. Murphy advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Aybar, then came home on a Simon's first wild pitch of the game.

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Simon said he tried to throw a two-seamer inside on the home run ball "and it was in the middle."

"I don't think I had the rhythm that I had last time," Simon said. "I think that was my problem tonight."

The Tigers scored four runs in the third inning, but trailed again by four after the Angels scored twice in the fourth and twice in the fifth.

James McCann hit a two-out, two-run home run in the sixth to the cut the Angels' lead to 8-6.

With runners on first and third, Jose Iglesias ended the threat in the sixth by grounding out to the pitcher.

The Tigers pulled to within a run, 8-7, on an RBI single by Nick Castellanos in the seventh. With the tying run on second with two outs, Albert Pujols made a diving stop on a grounder by McCann.

With runners on first and third with two outs in the eighth, Angels closer Huston Street got Victor Martinez to ground out to first.

Street went on to complete the four-out save for his 30th save of the season.

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Miguel Cabrera went 3-for-5 with three RBIs and two runs scored to lead the Tigers offensively.

McCann went 2-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored. J.D. Martinez (RBI, run scored) and Castellanos each had two hits.

The Tigers lost their fifth game in a row and are now seven games under .500 (59-66).

"Very tough, man," Cabrera said. "You don't want to be in this position, especially when you fight for something. This season is not over. We know what we can do."

The Tigers are 0-5 this season against the Angels.

Aybar scored from third on a wild pitch to give the Angels a 5-4 lead in fourth. They Angels ahead 6-4 after pinch hitter David Green hit a soft pop up that went off the glove of Tigers shortstop Jose Iglesias. Green was credited with a single, scoring C.J. Cron.

In the fifth, Aybar hit an RBI double and came home on a wild pitch for a second time in the game to give the Angels a four-run cushion.

The Tigers tied the game in the third on a three-run double by Cabrera and an RBI single by J.D. Martinez.

Jered Weaver gave up a leadoff single to McCann. With one out, Anthony Gose was credited with a double as Angels outfielders Mike Trout and Calhoun deferred to each other and allowed the ball top drop between them in right-center. Weaver then hit Iglesias in the back to load the bases.

Cabrera extended his hitting streak to 10 games with his bases-clearing double.

J.D. Martinez knocked in his 85th RBI with his line drive single to left.

Jered Weaver allowed six runs on seven hits with no walks over 5 2/3 innings with one strikeout for the Angels.

"He's got some movement, he still does change speeds quite a bit," Ausmus said. "He's throwing 81, 82, but he's also got a 67-mile per hour curveball, so there's a big disparity between the velocities of some of the pitches. And he runs it in and cuts it a little bit."

The bullpen was one bright spot for the Tigers. Drew VerHagen allowed one hit and one walk in 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief. Blain Hardy allowed one hit in two-thirds of an inning and Alex Wilson didn't allow a hit or run in 1 1/3 innings, including a strikeout of Trout.

"The bullpen did a nice job tonight," Ausmus said. "You'd like to put it all in the same day though, where the starter does a good job, the bullpen has a good night and we hit. And right now none of those are syncing up."

Contact George Sipple: gsipple@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @georgesipple. Download our Tigers Xtra app for free on Apple and Android devices! Join us for a a live blog of the Tigers vs. Angels game on Thursday afternoon at freep.com/sports. Also check out our latest Tigers podcast at freep.com/tigerspodcast or on iTunes.