Chris Tillman on the loss and more, plus other clubhouse quotes

The Tigers beat the Twins 4-2 tonight to complete a sweep of a day-night doubleheader. That win in the nightcap moves the Tigers (82-70) past the Orioles (82-71) for the second American League wild card.

After allowing three early runs tonight and pitching just 1 2/3 innings - his shortest outing of the year - Chris Tillman said he struggled with his mechanics and his command. But not with his shoulder. He was on the disabled list from Aug. 24-Sept. 11 with right shoulder bursitis and he insisted after the game that his shoulder is sound.

"Positive," Tillman said. "I felt great tonight, I actually felt really good tonight. Disappointing to feel that good and not get the team deep in the game or give us a chance was frustrating.

"My mechanics were bad tonight. The more I tried to make an adjustment, the worse it got for me and I just couldn't hit on a consistent basis. I'd hit one (location of a pitch) and miss three. It wasn't good. Command was bad from the get-go and was never able to find it."

He gave up five hits and three runs in the Orioles' 5-3 loss to the Red Sox, which completed a four-game sweep for Boston. It was Tillman's shortest start since he went 1 1/3 on June 21, 2015 at Toronto. In both of the innings he pitched tonight, he had a chance to get a third out before runs scored, but couldn't get them.

"Anytime you get two outs and are not able to get out of it without keeping a zero on the board is frustrating. You know what, the command just wasn't good and I can't give any other reason why," he said.

Tillman was asked if things are snowballing downhill against the Orioles right now.

"I don't think so," he said. "We've got a good clubhouse and good team. Just didn't get it done this series. We're not focusing on the negatives. Focusing on playing good baseball should be the only concern right now."

Trey Mancini hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the third inning, his second career homer. According to STATS, LLC., he is the first Orioles player to homer for his first two major league hits. The last player in the majors to accomplish the feat was Colorado's Trevor Story on April 4, 2016. Mancini has gone 3-for-7 (.429) with a double, two home runs, two runs scored, four RBIs and a hit-by-pitch in three games with Baltimore this season.

Here are some more clubhouse quotes:

Mancini on homering twice in two games, but in losses: "It was an unbelievable experience and I had a lot more of my family here tonight. But on the flip side, after a loss like that, you don't really think about the home run too much. It really doesn't matter."

Mancini on hoping the homer would spark the team: "It felt good. I just wanted to put the ball hard in play. Maybe hit it right back at him (David Price) and luckily he left a changeup up and got it pretty good there."

Mancini on the series: "It's tough. Getting swept in a four-game series this late in the season in a playoff race is tough. At the same time, what's done is done and we've got a humungous series this weekend coming up. It's time to get it going for sure. I know we can definitely bounce back from this."

Caleb Joseph on Tillman's early exit: "Just high pitch count. Every batter they had seemed to have a deep count. He threw 60 pitches in two innings. There were a lot of fouloffs. You've got to understand we were looking to attack weaknesses, too. Yeah, Chris' bread and butter may be one thing but, we have to make adjustments after how the last three games had gone. Some of these hitters, you don't want to give in and sometimes these pitches lead to foul balls and that is what happened tonight."

Joseph on a playoff berth possibly slipping away: "Well believe it or not, we are still in the hunt for the playoffs. The way people make it seem sometimes it feels like we are 40 games under .500. Disappointing, absolutely, but we didn't put the last nail in our own coffin or anything. We're going to show up and give the D-backs everything we have the next three games. If we win three in a row now, we are right back maybe where we want to be. We still control our own destiny. No one is feeling sorry or hanging their head around here. We'll get some rest and get back to work tomorrow for the D-backs."