The Detroit Tigers split the doubleheader as the offense struggles.

When speaking to the media on Wednesday’s doubleheader between the Pittsburgh Pirates, Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch discussed how the offense needed to step up for this upcoming stretch in which Detroit plays 15 games in the next 14 days. They will not have an off-day until Thursday, May 19th.

“It is super important for us to get through this strip, this stretch successfully on winning ways, by having more of a roster play well, I’ve got to use everybody. There’s going to be days off where we sit some of our premium guys to maintain their health. The better than our whole roster plays. The more success we’re going to have.”

In the first game, Detroit needed some balls to fall their way and, thanks to some bad defense by the Pittsburgh Pirates, they were to score three runs on just three hits.

In the bottom of the 5th, Jeimer Candelario, who had one of the three Tigers hits, first scored on a sac fly by Robbie Grossman. Later in the same inning, Willi Castro and Akil Baddoo were able to score on a Ke’Bryan Hayes throwing error and that was it for the offense in the first game. The first four in the batting order in the first game went 0-for-14.

Detroit’s offensive struggles carried over into game two

In the second game, the Tigers’ bullpen struggled along with the offense as they lost 7-2. Alex Faedo held his own in his first major league start, allowing two runs on eight hits over five innings of work. Drew Hutchison struggled, walking three, and allowing two runs in one inning of work. Joe Jimenez allowed his first home run of the season, a two-run shot by Daniel Vogelbach in the 9th.

Jonathan Schoop continues to struggle at the plate. He went 0-for-8 between the two games on Wednesday. Since his two-hit game against the Rockies back on April 23, he is now 5-for-38. Spencer Torkelson is also going through a rough stretch going 0-for-5 and has not had a hit since April 30th. Detroit left 10 men on base.

Up next for the Detroit Tigers: Houston Astros

What lies ahead for Detroit is a four-game series against the Houston Astros beginning Thursday night. The Astro rookie shortstop Jeremy Peña, who got off to a good start, has cooled off as of late but he has already five home runs on the season. One of the hottest bats in the lineup as of late is Yordan Álvarez, who in his last eight games is batting a slash line of .423/.546/.923 (11-for-33) with four home runs.

Here are the pitching matchups against Houston:

Thursday: Tarik Skubal vs José Urquidy

Friday: Beau Brieske vs Luis Garcia

Saturday: Eduardo Rodriguez vs Framber Valdez

Sunday: TBA vs Jake Odorizzi