Wentz's mistakes 'ambushed' by Rangers' offense

ARLINGTON -- Left-hander Joey Wentz dropped his fifth consecutive start as the Tigers fell at Globe Life Field in a lopsided 10-2 loss to the Rangers.

Wentz never seemed to find his footing in the 4 2/3-inning outing, as the Rangers blitzed him for four runs in the first inning.

Marcus Semien and Corey Seager kicked things off with back-to-back doubles to help Texas get on the board. Then, after a Nathaniel Lowe groundout, Adolis García reached first base safely on a throwing error by third baseman Zack Short.

The following at-bat, Josh Jung made the Tigers pay for the costly error by sending an RBI single to center field. It was the first of three run-scoring singles hit in the inning, as the Rangers batted around in the opening frame to produce a 4-0 lead.

“My first inning obviously wasn’t good,” Wentz said. “[I gave up a] first-pitch double and then hung one to Seager and he did damage on that. After that, they put four runs across. My cutter wasn’t good, but other than that, I thought I threw some decent pitches that they just hit.”

The damage wasn’t just limited to the first inning for Wentz, however, the left-hander struggled to contain the Rangers' offense in the third inning, too -- yielding solo home runs to Jung and Ezequiel Duran. Both homers were hit off Wentz’s cutter, which the southpaw had trouble locating.

“He got ambushed,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “I don’t think he mixed in his secondary pitches -- certainly not the changeup and slider -- until later in the game. But, [the Rangers] didn’t miss.

“Anything he threw over the heart of the plate, they hit pretty hard. They hit mistakes. I think you have to win the game over the plate. When you don’t, you run into some tough nights.”

After Wentz was pulled in the fifth inning, Garrett Hill, who was recalled from Triple-A Toledo prior to the game, received a jarring welcome back to the big leagues.

In two innings of relief, Hill was hit hard by the Rangers, as they piled on four more runs to extend the lead to 8-0.

Given that Hill was recalled to bolster an ailing bullpen, Wednesday night’s lackluster performance only adds to Detroit’s pitching conundrum.

The Tigers' bullpen has already logged the third-most innings in the Majors and, with a slew of injuries to the pitching staff, the team has no choice but to rely on the already fatigued group.

So far this season, the Tigers’ bullpen has yielded the 7th-most hits and 10th-most runs in the Majors.

“The state of our bullpen is not in great shape,” Hinch said. “So, the need for a fresh arm is there. That’s why we got Garrett here and we may need some action here over the next few days to stabilize our bullpen.”

On the offensive side, things didn’t go much smoother for Detroit, as the inconsistencies continued. Over their last 10 games, the Tigers have been held to three or fewer runs six times. Furthermore Wednesday, the Tigers struck out at least 10 times in a game for the fourth time this season.

The Tigers will need to find a remedy to their problems on both sides of the ball if they want to keep pace in a competitive AL Central.