Tigers
AD
2, Rangers 1
- Alas, no sweep.
- Tarik Skubal has been arguably the best pitcher in baseball this season, and he looked the part, fanning 11 Rangers while not walking anyone. Texas did get a run off of him, though it was after he had been lifted from the game for Tyler Holton, with Holton throwing a wild pitch that allowed Adolis Garcia to score.
- So a bad game for the Rangers’ offense.
- And yet, Texas kept it close, thanks to Jacob Latz doing solid stand-in work in place of Nathan Eovaldi. Latz allowed baserunners and had some high-pressure pitches, but he ultimately limited Detroit to just one run in five innings, and you can’t ask much more of him than that under the circumstances.
- Detroit ended up pushing the winning run across against Chris Martin, when, with two out and two out, he threw a 3-2 fastball over the heart of the plate to Matt Vierling, resulting in a line drive single.
- And to add insult to injury, Martin injured himself on the play, having to come out of the game with a strained calf muscle which I am guessing will land him on the injured list. If you were wondering how the Rangers were going to make room on the roster for Jon Gray, well, there you go.
- The loss dropped the Rangers back to .500 on the season, and that’s disappointing. Texas did, however, take two of three in the series against the team with the best record in baseball, which isn’t nothing. They did what they needed to do to in this series to get out of the hole they put themselves in and get into legit contention for a Wild Card spot.
- And now they need to follow it up with solid performances at home against the A’s and the Braves. They need to, at a minimum, go 4-2 the rest of this homestand, continue to take care of business and work their way back up the standings, give the front office a reason to buy rather than sell.
- Jacob Latz topped out at 96.2 mph with his fastball, averaging 93.4 mph. Luke Jackson hit 94.7 mph with his fastball. Hoby Milner’s sinker reached 88.0 mph. Chris Martin touched 96.9 mph with his fastball. Caleb Boushley topped out at 93.9 mph with his sinker.
- Corey Seager had a 105.1 mph double and a 100.3 mph single. Kyle Higashioka had a 104.4 mph line out. Adolis Garcia had a 101.5 mph double.
- On to the A’s, and hopefully, another successful series.
