Tigers lose to Texas despite several positives
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There’s something brewing in the Tigers’ clubhouse lately. Whether it’s a flash in the pan during a long season, youth coming into its own or inspiration gleaned from its crafty new manager, there’s no doubt Detroit has been fun to watch lately.
Though Tuesday’s contest ended in a 10-5 loss to the Rangers at Globe Life Field, the Tigers still added a bit of magic to the narrative that has been steadily unfolding since the beginning of May.
“We’re always trying to win,” catcher Jake Rogers said. “We gave up some runs today, but the boys battled back. The boys came back, they wouldn’t stop pushing. We’ll never stop pushing; that’s what I love about this team.”
Among the highlights:
• Detroit’s first hit was a 413-foot home run from Robbie Grossman in the fourth inning. The solo shot gave the Tigers a brief lead and marked long ball No. 11 for Grossman, matching his career high.
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• Starting pitcher José Ureña put up zeros through his first three innings. It was the first time since May 26 he opened with three scoreless frames.
• Down 5-2 in the top of the seventh, Eric Haase torched a 2-2 pitch off reliever John King into the right-field stands to tie the game. The three-run bomb marked Haase’s first career hit as a pinch-hitter; he’d previously gone 0-for-8.
Fellow catcher Rogers also went deep in the contest, slugging a solo shot in the sixth that traveled 426 feet. Rogers, a Texas native, later legged out a triple in the seventh and finished the night 2-for-4 in front of a crowd of friends and family.
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“It’s pretty cool for my family to be able to see … a homer in person,” Rogers said. “I don’t know if any of my family has seen a homer in person yet, so that was pretty cool. The loss sucks. I’m [ticked] about it, honestly. But it was pretty cool to have a good offensive day.”
• Due to myriad injuries to its rotation, Detroit’s bullpen has been heavily taxed this season. On Tuesday, Buck Farmer entered with two outs in the fifth and twirled 1 1/3 perfect frames.
“[The Rangers] just capitalized on virtually everything and swung the bat a lot better at the end," manager A.J. Hinch said. "We didn't play well enough to win at the end of the day, and they took advantage of it, so credit to them."
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Detroit may have battled back from a 5-1 deficit to tie the game in the seventh, but Texas’ 12-hit, three-homer game simply overwhelmed the bullpen, which allowed five runs over the final two innings. Perhaps most concerning among the pitching lines though was Ureña, who added to his curious stretch of recent difficult outings with a four-run fourth inning.
“He definitely was pretty good early,” Hinch said. “I thought his conviction over the plate was pretty good. I thought everything that he was doing was working out for him. … He did give up a few key hits there at the end, and I thought he was going to wiggle his way out of it until he got the [David] Dahl hit up the middle that ended his night.”
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Ureña went 5-5 with a 4.14 ERA across his first 10 games of the season before landing on the injured list May 29 with a right forearm strain. He returned June 6 and has gone 0-5 with a 7.94 ERA in six starts since, including a pair outings in which he yielded seven earned runs, one of which lasted just 1 2/3 frames.
It’s a stretch that’s led Hinch to reflect that his righty “hasn’t looked the same” since the injury, leaving the Tigers struggling to unravel the mystery behind their most veteran rotation arm.
While Detroit (39-47) pounded Texas (34-52) during a 7-3 win on Monday and the Rangers returned the favor to even the series one day later, it seems only fitting that Hinch saw parallels between the two talented squads who are patching wins together as they ride a youth movement.
“I think each team is trying to find its identity,” Hinch said prior to the series opener. “I think we’re certainly doing that on our end, and I can imagine what [Texas manager Chris Woodward] is doing across the way as he’s trying to find out who’s going to be part of the future and a part of the next good Rangers team.
“They’ve gone through a transition that Tigers fans have seen us go through, so I buy into that.”