Baseball can be a cruel game. There are no moral victories in this business—only results. And sometimes, those results sting a little more than others. But for much of tonight's game, the Detroit Tigers looked like they were doing everything right to overcome some heartbreaking news about Tarik Skubal that surfaced earlier in the day.

Ty Madden stepped up in a big way as the bulk reliever on what was supposed to be a bullpen day. He was nothing short of incredible. Honestly, the Tigers probably didn't expect the kind of length he gave them, but Madden just kept making his pitches. It was a remarkable performance—one that deserves to be remembered, even if it gets overshadowed by what happened after he left the game.

The Tigers are banged up right now. They need players to step up, and Ty Madden did exactly that tonight. The problem? After he exited, Detroit still needed nine more outs. And right now, the bullpen simply doesn't have the arms to get them. Maybe Vanasco develops into something—it's only his second outing with the big league club—but Emmanuel de Jesus isn't a major league pitcher. When you look at the current state of this bullpen, unless you're planning to ask Kyle Finnegan for nine outs, there's no clear answer. In a perfect world, Tarik Skubal would have gone six innings tonight, handing it off to the high-leverage guys. But right now, outside of Finnegan, there aren't any high-leverage arms to trust. And that's a problem that won't go away anytime soon.

Let's not completely let the offense off the hook, either. They were facing a talented young pitcher in Peyton Tolle and were gifted two runs. Against a pitcher of that caliber, that's not bad at all. If anything, they were a little too aggressive early in the game. But give them credit—after a rain delay, they fought back. Dillon Dingler provided a big swing, but in the end, it just wasn't enough.