The numbers are beginning to not add up for the Tigers.
July turns into August in a couple of days, and Detroit will enter the month with 56 victories or less. The Tigers were at 53 after getting shut out for the 11th time this season, 5-0, Monday night. Assuming it's going to take 90-95 wins to make the playoffs, the Tigers will have to get 20 victories in each of the next two months.
"We looked sluggish," manager Jim Leyland said. "That's what I told the team after the game. Don't misunderstand me; give Paul Byrd a lot of credit for that. But I told them we looked like a team that just came off a road trip and played three tough games at home and then went on the road again.
"And I understand that. Now move on."
Leyland also declined to call Detroit's position dangerous.
"We're in a position where if we win five in a row and they lose five in a row, now we're just one game back," he said. "And that happens all the time in baseball."
INDIANS 5, TIGERS 0: Detroit collected just four hits, two by CF Curtis Granderson, in suffering its 11th shutout loss of the season. LHP Kenny Rogers gave up nine hits, and two of them were home runs good for three runs in the sixth inning. RHP Aquilino Lopez pitched the last 2 1/3 innings, not allowing a run. RF Magglio Ordonez and LF Matt Joyce collected the other two Detroit hits.
