DETROIT -- With Victor Martinez, you knew what was wrong. With Anibal Sanchez, it's much more difficult to tell what the problem is.
Sanchez has had some very good outings this season and some very bad ones.
Tuesday night against the Milwaukee Brewers fell into the very bad category.
Sanchez, who was coming off an excellent outing in which he allowed one earned run on five hits in eight innings to the Minnesota Twins, gave up seven runs on seven hits in just 3 2/3 innings as the Tigers lost, 8-1.
With the Kansas City Royals' win over the Cincinnati Reds, the Tigers (23-17) fell to a season-high 2 1/2 games back in the Central Division.
Almost all the trouble happened in the third inning, when Sanchez ended up giving up back-to-back-to-back home runs to Ryan Braun (three-run shot), Adam Lind and Aramis Ramirez.
"I know they put really good swings on a couple of them," Sanchez said. "Unfortunately, it was three straight really bad pitches. I think the one to Braun was a fastball, and the other two were off-speed pitches. I'm really upset with them."
J.D. Martinez admitted to being a little stunned watching it happen from left field.
"It's just one of those things where it's just, wow, OK, they got one," Martinez said. "Braun kind of squeezed one right there, was able to keep it fair. Then Lind, then Aramis comes up and you're just like, whoa. You don't see that from Sanchie. But he's a great pitcher. He's going to definitely bounce back from it."
Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said the problem occurred when Sanchez was pitching out of the stretch instead of the wind-up.
"With Sanchie, I think sometimes out of the stretch he starts to rush and he starts to pull down with his chest, the arm drags behind," Ausmus said. "Mechanically, you end up leaving the ball up. It's something that's fixable, but a lot of times even when you're doing it, it's tough to fix on the spot."
Sanchez allowed just four home runs in 21 starts last season and nine in 2013, the year he won the AL ERA title at 2.57.
With the three home runs Tuesday, Sanchez has already given up nine in nine starts.
"It's been clearly something that is uncharacteristic for Sanchie," Ausmus said. "Long ball wasn't an issue last year, but this year it's been a little bit of a different story now."
It's just been an odd year for Sanchez, even though he says he's completely healthy and feeling good.
Sanchez had one start where he's given up nine earned runs, Tuesday when he gave up seven and two other starts giving up five each.
Sanchez's other starts he's allowed the following total of earned runs: zero, one, three, three and one.
By contrast, last season Sanchez had one start in which he gave up seven earned runs to the Tampa Bay Rays on July 5 and another in which he gave up five at Arizona.
2014 starts
0 earned runs: 3
1 earned run: 5
2 earned runs: 5
3 earned runs: 3
4 earned runs: 3
In 2013, Sanchez had 29 starts and it looked even better than last year's injury-marred season.
2013 starts
0 earned runs: 6
1 earned run: 8
2 earned runs: 8
3 earned runs: 2
4 earned runs: 3
In 2013, Sanchez had only two starts in which he allowed five earned runs and never allowed more than that.
So Sanchez is normally a very consistent pitcher who's very devoted to his routine.
Sanchez arrives early and works hard. So it's a little mystifying that he's been so up and down.
Even he can't explain it.
"I'm working hard. I put all my heart, all my effort into every outing," Sanchez said. "Every day that I come here, I'm working so hard. Everything I can do to have a strong outing, I do. What happens in the game -- I don't know, it's something right now that I face that I've never faced before."
At least with Martinez, it's a physical issue -- his surgically repaired left knee -- that's causing his problem.
Since Sanchez says he's fine physically, that's not the issue.
The Tigers need Sanchez to pitch well, especially with the offensive inconsistency they've had the last few weeks.
No doubt Sanchez will be at the ballpark early Wednesday, working with pitching coach Jeff Jones to figure it out.
"Everything I need to fix, I will do," Sanchez said. "Everything I need to make me strong for the next one, I'll do. I'm not going to stop today, I'm not going to stop tomorrow, I'm going to continue working."
