DETROIT — The atmosphere inside the Detroit Tigers’ clubhouse at Target Field on the Fourth of July was a funeral. No music. No conversation. Just a bunch of beat up-looking ballplayers trying to regroup after losing five of the first seven games on a road trip that had one more city and three more games remaining.

At a season-worst nine games under .500, the only thing missing in that room was a trumpeter blowing Taps.

Stash the trumpet.

Since that day, the Tigers swept the Reds in Cincinnati, took three of four from American League Central Division-leading Cleveland and, after a second straight rousing ninth-inning rally, won two of three from the National League West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers.

"You just keep showing up every day with the right attitude," said rookie Justyn-Henry Malloy, whose pinch-hit single Sunday in the ninth inning tied the game and preceded a second straight walk-off win over the Dodgers, 4-3. "During that rough stretch, if you were in our locker room (before the games) you wouldn't know it was a rough stretch. It was just baseball happening.

"Just keeping that mentality and coming into the room positive every day and knowing we're going to come to work every day and keep stacking good at-bats and the pitchers keep throwing strikes, over the course of time good things happen."

Down 3-2 in the ninth Sunday, Zach McKinstry led off with a triple against right-hander Yohan Ramirez.

"It was a curveball up in the zone and I was able to get a barrel to it," McKinstry said. "I saw it going toward the line and I was like, 'Stay fair, stay fair.' Then it hit the ground and I was like, 'Oh yeah, let's go,' and I turned on the burners."

Manager AJ Hinch had Malloy in the on-deck circle to hit for Andy Ibanez before McKinstry's triple. The only way he was going to pull him back was if the Dodgers brought in a left-handed reliever. They did not.

"He's becoming more comfortable in the batter's box and one of the adjustments he's made is he's opened up the entire field," Hinch said of Malloy. "The situation called for him to use the middle of the field and get the ball to the outfield. That fact that he got a hit was a bonus."

Then came the bunt party. While the Dodgers huddled on the mound, Hinch left the dugout to relay a message directly to the ear of third-base coach Joey Cora.

"Just to make sure we were on the same page for multiple hitters," he said. "Just going over a couple of scenarios, things we didn't want to get lost in the communication."

First was a well-executed safety squeeze bunt by Ryan Vilade. Not only did Malloy advance to second, but Ramirez booted the ball and everyone was safe. Next up, Wenceel Perez. Ramirez fielded the bunt cleanly but made a hurried and ill-advised throw to third.

The ball got by third baseman Kiki Hernandez and Malloy jogged home.

"Once I know the bunt is on, I know I need to be aggressive," Malloy said. "Bombi (Perez) put a good bunt down. I just wanted to make sure I touched home plate and then go celebrate."

Winning eight of the last 10, the Tigers (47-50) are certainly trending in a positive direction heading into the All-Star break.

"I think things changed when Skubal went out there and was just electric for us," McKinstry said.

He was talking about All-Star lefty Tarik Skubal's 13-strikeout performance in Cincinnati on July 7.

"The way he showed emotion that day, it was awesome to be part of," McKinstry said. "His emotions just rubbed off on everyone else, just seeing how much he wanted to win that game."

The Tigers have mirrored Skubal's tenacity in these last two series.

"It's important to keep in perspective that the one group that wasn't down was our guys," Hinch said. "We will show up and play every day. It's really easy to say that when you string together some wins like this. But these guys show up every day, regardless of the noise around us, whether we're playing well or when we're losing games.

"These guys are really good at showing up and being ready."

These last two games have been emblematic of both the inconsistency and resiliency the Tigers showed in the first half. Especially Saturday when they were down by five runs and seemingly dead in the ninth inning and came all the way back to post their 19th come-from-behind win.

On Sunday, they got out of the gate sluggish and fell into a 3-0 hole before their first at-bat.

"We don't always execute perfectly," Hinch quipped. "Go see that first inning again."

Both teams deployed a bullpen game, and Tigers’ opener Beau Brieske got the first two outs in seven pitches. By the time the inning ended, he threw 27 pitches and there were three runs on his ledger.

His trouble started when Perez, the right fielder, misplayed a bloop in short right field off the bat of right-handed hitter Will Smith. Perez seemed to misread the ball off the bat initially and then the wind kept blowing it back toward the infield.

It hit off the inside of his wrist, above his glove, and was scored a double.

Teoscar Hernandez ripped a 2-2 changeup from Brieske for a legit RBI double and scored on a single by Andy Pages.

Miguel Rojas then rolled an infield single and Pages got to third after the shortstop McKinstry’s throw eluded Ibanez, the first baseman. Rojas broke for second and Pages ended up scoring from third while the Tigers were in the process of tagging out Rojas in a rundown.

Not how you draw it up.

But things settled quickly. Lefty Tyler Holton pitched two scoreless innings, and then veteran righty Kenta Maeda, sent to the bullpen earlier this week, kept the Dodgers off the board through the seventh.

"With all the bad outcomes, I decided to turn the page and give it fresh, new start," Maeda said through interpreter Daichi Sekizaki.

Maeda looked like a completely different pitcher than the one who’d been tagged for 15 runs in his last two starts. His velocity was up on all of his pitches (2.3 mph on his splitter and 2.6 mph on his four-seam fastball). The movement was crisper, especially the splitter.

"That didn't have to do with knowing this was going to be short innings," he said. "It's more that when things weren't going well, I was too focused and too mindful of the shapes of my pitches and how it broke. Today I just focused on letting it rip and using my full arm action.

"[That] led to the sharpness and the velocity."

Maeda allowed only an infield hit to Shohei Ohtani and struck out five in 3 2/3 innings. He left to a warm reception from the crowd of 35,159 at Comerica Park.

"Since joining the Tigers, I haven't been able to contribute positively," he said. "With the ovation today, that really made me feel good. I hope to continue to pitch like this going forward."

He also relished his battle with fellow Japanese star Ohtani.

"It's a special moment," Maeda said. "He's a great hitter and I enjoy facing him. And that's the ideal situation, with two outs and no runners on. ... And thanks to Ohtani, I was able to hit 94 mph (on an adrenalin juiced fastball)."

There was one other moment of drama. It came in the top of the ninth. Jason Foley, who finished off the eighth inning, walked two Dodgers in the ninth. Hinch summoned right-hander Alex Faedo to face left-handed hitting Gavin Lux.

Faedo's changeup is a tough matchup for left-handed hitters, but Faedo ended up walking Lux.

"Best laid plans," Hinch shrugged.

Faedo then fell behind right-handed hitting Chris Taylor 3-0.

"I didn't feel I was too far off," Faedo said. "The first two heaters were down, just kind of pulled them a little bit. Then the breaking ball was good, just off the plate, and I felt that kind of got me synced back up. I just reminded myself that it is really hard to hit. And I was going to challenge him and give him my best stuff.

"At least if he beats me, beat me with a swing."

Faedo got back in the count with two challenge fastballs and then punched Taylor out with a slider.

"I'm just really proud of our guys, both through those tough times and now through this nice stretch," Hinch said. "And we still have a long way to go to get to be where we want to be."

And yet, they are much closer than they were 10 days ago.

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