It’s been four straight starts since the Tigers scored while Rick Porcello was in the game. 

He’s lost five straight starts. 

“We definitely have the offensive capability of winning a lot of games, scoring a lot of runs, but sometimes you get them, sometimes you don’t. That’s just the way it is," the right-hander said. "I really don’t want to talk about run support. These guys are fighting their tails off. We’re all fighting. That’s just part of the game sometimes. 

"That doesn’t change anything that I have to do on the mound. I have to put up zeros and keep us in the game as long as I can. Everyone is fighting hard."

Still in the top 30 pitchers in Major League Baseball in run support (4.63, second-most among Tigers starters), Porcello hasn’t gotten an ounce of that lately.

“The only people who look at that stuff are the people who are outside. There’s always a pitcher on every team who doesn’t get the run support sometimes,” Avila said. “Ricky’s problem is that he’s pitching when guys like Masterson are dealing. It’s unfortunate that we haven’t been able to get him some wins when he’s pitched really well, but at the same time, it’s not like we’re not trying.”

Porcello continued his trend of pitching reasonably well lately with his outing on Tuesday — "I wouldn't say it was a great performance, but it certainly wasn't a bad performance," manager Jim Leyland said — but he's got nothing much to show for it.

"As of late, I’ve been pitching some of my best baseball all year, at least as consistency-wise. I haven’t had the seven- or eight-inning shutout, but I’ve had a couple starts where I’ve limited teams to a few runs. So, consistency-wise, it’s been good," Porcello said. "Obviously, you want to come away with some wins and help your team out in that regard. Until that happens, it’s not going to feel all that good." 

Here he talks about the frustration for the team, after dropping two straight to the Indians: