Tigers 9, Rangers 8
ARLINGTON, Texas, Aug 28 — The Detroit Tigers‘ offense proved to be too much for the Texas Rangers on Sunday afternoon, as they won by a final score of 9–8. The Rangers’ offense came late in the game on home runs by Corey Seager, Nathaniel Lowe, and Kole Calhoun. With this win, the Tigers take two out of three games from the Rangers in front of a crowd of 24,938 at Globe Life Field in the Sunday matinee. Next up on the Rangers’ home stand is a short two-game set against the Houston Astros. The first game of that series starts on Tuesday evening at 7:05 PM Central. Lefty Framber Valdez (13–4, 2.65 ERA) will get the ball for the Astros. The Rangers will send Dane Dunning (3–6, 4.19 ERA) to the mound in the opener.
Tigers’ Offense
The Tigers’ offense got started in the top of the second inning. Tigers catcher Eric Haase crossed the plate on an RBI double by DH Kerry Carpenter. This gave Detroit a 1–0 lead. They added two more in the top of the second inning. Third baseman Jeimer Candelario drove in Carpenter with a two-run home run to right-center field. An inning later, the Tigers scored again on a bases-loaded walk to second baseman Kody Clemens.
This allowed Haase to score. It seemed like the Tigers scored inning-by0 inning in this one. In the top of the fourth inning, Riley Green and Victor Reyes scored on a single by Harold Castro. Castro did it again in the top of the sixth inning. He drove in Greene, Reyes, and Javier Baez with a double to left field. At this point, the Tigers had a comfortable 9–0 lead.
Rangers’ Offense
The Rangers’ offense started a pair of back-to-back home runs by Corey Seager and Nathaniel Lowe in the bottom of the sixth inning. Thinks looked pretty bleak for the Rangers until the bottom of the eighth inning. A groundout by Adolis Garcia drove in Marcus Semien. Then Kole Calhoun drove in Corey Seager with a two-run home run over the centerfield wall.
Circumstances went from bleak to promising, and that would continue in the bottom of the ninth inning. Ezequiel Duran was driven in on a double by Marcus Semien, The Rangers scored their final two runs of the afternoon on another home run by Seager. It was his second blast of the afternoon, and his 28th of the season. It also marked a new career high for Seager.
Pitching Notes
Right-hander Kohei Arihara started for the Rangers on Sunday, and couldn’t keep the Tigers’ offense at bay. Arihara took the loss in the finale (now 1–2 on the year) after he surrendered six runs, all earned, on eight hits. He did this over 3 1/3 innings, spiking his season ERA thru three major league starts from 2.31 to 5.40 (nine R-ER/15 IP). Arihara remains winless in seven career starts at Globe Life Field, going 0–5, with an ERA of 9.79 (29 ER/26 2/3 IP) in those outings compared to 3–1, with an ERA of 3.10 (ten ER/29 IP) over six career starts on the road.
Drew Hutchison got the winning decision for the Tigers. He pitched 5 1/3 innings, and he allowed two earned runs on four hits. Two of those hits were home runs. Hutchison also walked two, and struck out three. His record for 2022 now sits at 2–7, with an ERA of 4.01. Right-hander Joe Jimenez came on and recorded the final two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. He had one strikeout, and was able to record his second save of the season.
Miscellaneous Notes
Kole Calhoun’s home run on Sunday was his first since July 9 against the Minnesota Twins. Leody Taveras has hits in five straight games. Texas has outscored its’ opponents 66-41 (+25) in the ninth inning this season. Kerry Carpenter had three hits on Sunday after totaling six hits over his first 11 major league games before Sunday. Riley Greene has hit safely in a season, and career-high seven straight games at .467 (14-30), with multiple hits in six of those seven games
Adolis Garcia went hitless (0-for-3, RBI) with a pair of walks, snapping his career-best 23 game hitting streak. It was the longest active streak in major league baseball. It was also the longest by an AL batter this season, and tied for the fifth-longest streak in Rangers history and longest since Josh Hamilton in 2010 (23 G, 6/4-30/10). García did maintain his 24-game on-base streak, which is the longest such streak by a Texas batter since a 25-gamer by Nathaniel Lowe last season (25 G, 4/17-5/13/21). His 31 walks this season are already one shy of matching his career high of 32 set last season.
Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images
Players Mentioned:
Corey Seager, Nathaniel Lowe, Kole Calhoun, Framber Valdez, Dane Dunning, Eric Haase, Jeimer Candelario, Kody Clemens, Victor Reyes, Harold Castro, Javier Baez, Adolis Garcia, Marcus Semien, Ezequiel Duran, Kohei Arihara, Drew Hutchison, Joe Jimenez, Leody Taveras, Kerry Carpenter, Riley Greene, Josh Hamilton
