Hittin' Harold paves way with 5-RBI finale

ARLINGTON -- Never underestimate the power of a single.

It’s a point Tigers manager A.J. Hinch made before the team’s 9-8 win against the Rangers on Sunday at Globe Life Field, and a point that was proven by first baseman Harold Castro in the fourth inning.

With runners in scoring position and the Tigers leading, 4-0, Castro hit a single to center field that drove in a couple of insurance runs. He later topped that in the sixth inning with a bases-clearing double to make it a 9-0 ballgame.

That single -- both at-bats, really -- ended up making all the difference in the Tigers’ win as the Rangers rallied to score eight runs over the last few innings.

“I think sometimes guys need an opportunity to succeed or fail. This [was] an opportunity for Harold, and he stepped up and had really good at-bats,” Hinch said. “The way the game ends, those at-bats seem bigger and bigger when you look back on when we were able to pad our lead.”

Castro finished the night 2-for-5 with a career-high five RBIs in helping contribute to the offense’s fourth consecutive game with six-plus runs scored -- the first time the club has accomplished such a feat since July 2019, only the Tigers went 1-3 in that span and 3-1 this time around.

Detroit’s offensive output highlighted the series despite a rough finish to the series win. Sunday’s game was nearly a repeat of the series opener Friday when the Tigers strung together an impressive but ultimately unsuccessful rally.

“Well, we won the series, so you always take that out of it. The end result is always key. We won the series, we played very well,” Hinch said. “Obviously, the last couple innings got away from us and we didn’t do ourselves any favors, but we got the last out, and we’re going home on a happy flight.”

Over the last two series, the Tigers have scored a combined 33 runs, 26 of which were scored against the Rangers over the weekend. Detroit is now 2-0-2 over its last four series since snapping an eight-game losing skid in early August.

“We’re obviously having some better at-bats,” Hinch said. “I mean, it almost wasn’t enough today because we didn’t score any in the last third of the game.”

Though Detroit was blanked between the seventh and ninth innings while Corey Seager (twice), Nathaniel Lowe and Kole Calhoun launched a combined four homers to bring the game to within one, Joe Jiménez -- with little notice -- sat down the Rangers’ No. 4 and No. 5 hitters with a strikeout and a flyout to save the game.

“I ambushed him. I didn’t give him a lot of time to warm up, I didn’t give him a lot of warning,” Hinch said. “Things happened pretty fast, he came in and did what you hope.”

Jiménez’s save made way for Drew Hutchison (2-7, 4.01 ERA) to pick up his second win of the season. Hutchison tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings before being pulled after allowing back-to-back homers to Seager and Lowe.

“It’s a win,” Hutchison said when asked about sitting through the last three innings. “You get a win, win the series. A win’s a win.”