- Updated: Jun. 25, 2026, 10:10 p.m.
- Published: Jun. 25, 2026, 10:08 p.m.
By
DETROIT — The All-Star break is still three weeks away, but the Detroit Tigers reached the official midpoint of the 2026 season Thursday night.
Eighty-one games down, eighty-one to go.
A three-game losing streak was not the way the Tigers wanted to arrive at this point. Especially after it looked like they might be getting on track with a hot start to June.
But Thursday’s 2-1 loss to the Houston Astros in the series opener continued a familiar trend for a team that has lived and died on the margins.
The Tigers are now 9-16 in one-run games and 2-13 in two-run games. All three losses on this homestand have been decided by two runs or fewer.
That is why, in large part, the Tigers are 34-47. You have to go back to the historically bad 2019 season to find a worse first half.
2026: 34-47
2025: 50-31
2024: 37-44
2023: 35-46
2022: 34-47
2021: 36-45
2019: 27-54
If the clock was ticking before, it’s now blaring with urgency. The Tigers have little time to turn things around before decisions must be made ahead of the Aug. 3 trade deadline. Every loss chips away at their hopes.
“We’re going out there trying to win a ballgame every single night,” said infielder Colt Keith. “All of us are grinding, trying to get wins, and we know the situation we’re in. We’re not dumb.”
Thursday’s game seemed within reach if only for the brilliant performance of Tigers starter Troy Melton, who came out throwing gas and then retired the first 16 batters of the game.
He averaged 97 mph on his four-seam fastball, 96 mph on his sinker and 94 mph on his cutter — all above his usual marks.
“Yesterday I did something really small mechanically that felt really good playing catch yesterday and in the bullpen today,” Melton said of the velocity bump. “I definitely came up with a little bit of an emphasis on first innings. That’s probably been my worst inning. So I think setting a tone from there was the key for me, and then it was just easier to keep that momentum rolling rather than trying to reach back later.”
Melton’s perfect game was broken up with a solo home run by Taylor Trammell in the sixth inning, and he ended up taking the loss, but that didn’t end up being the critical run of the game.
The Tigers answered Trammell’s homer with a monster solo shot by Dillon Dingler in the bottom of the ninth.
But moments earlier, in the top half of the inning, the Astros did something neither team had managed all game — they manufactured a run.
Jeremy Peña singled off Tigers reliever Kenley Jansen, stole second, moved to third on a groundout and scored on Isaac Paredes’ sacrifice fly.
It wasn’t much, but it was the difference in the game.
“They pieced three at-bats together in the ninth inning against Kenley,” said Tigers manager A.J. Hinch. “Those are things that created the difference in the game.
“We hit the homer. They hit a homer. But they were able to manufacture a run by piecing at-bats together.”
The 81-game mark is a trivial curiosity that doesn’t mean anything in itself. But the second half of the season heralds the reality that the Tigers can’t afford many more setbacks — and that they have to start winning more of these close games.
“Our psyche’s in battle mode right now, no matter what,” Hinch said. “I don’t think that we can let up in any way, and we haven’t.
“Our psyche’s fine. Our ability to bounce back is going to be key.”