Detroit Tigers: Rangers Use Long Ball to Trounce Tigers 10-5 on Saturday

The Detroit Tigers dropped below .500 once again following a 10-5 loss to the Texas Rangers Saturday. Starter Mike Pelfrey is still without a win on the season after another mediocre outing.

The Detroit Tigers showed the ugly side of their two-faced team against the Texas Rangers Saturday. After digging themselves out of a hole early the Tigers offense looked alive and seemed as if they could get starter Mike Pelfrey a win. Unfortunately, Pelfrey would let this one slip away after looking serviceable for most of the game. The second largest crowd of the season saw a disappointing, five-run loss.

This game started off how every Pelfrey start has this season. Pelfrey would leave pitches up to the first two batters resulting in back-to-back home runs for Rougned Odor and Nomar Mazara. Even Plefrey’s first out of the game, a 390-foot fly ball to center field off the bat of Adrian Beltre, made fans gasp. Down 2-0 early it looked like it would be another rough outing for the Detroit right-hander.

Pelfrey settled down after a rocky first and pitched well from the second inning on. Then the sixth inning rolled around and things got ugly again. The starter served up an RBI double to Maraza and an absolute, no-doubter of a home run to Beltre before leaving the game one inning too late. His final line read five innings pitched, five earned runs and only three strikeouts.

If there was a positive to Pelfrey’s start it was the zero walks allowed for the second time all season.

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Once again control was the issue for Pelfrey and his inability to locate his sinker plagued him. The ball Odor hit to lead off the game was a 2-0 sinker that was left up and on the outer part of the plate allowing the Rangers second baseman to poke it over the fence.

The issue with Pelfrey is his predictability and his inability to learn from his mistakes. Mazara saw another sinker that did not sink and was left up in the very next at bat. Even after pitching well in four of the six innings he appeared in, Pelfrey has shown no signs of improvement and no confidence in his secondary pitches.

After Pelfrey left the game the bullpen came on and could not hold the fort down. Kyle Ryan continued to struggle against lefties after surrendering a two run homer to Mitch Moreland in the sixth inning. Alex Wilson, Justin Wilson and Mark Lowe would all surrender a run in relief while trying to close this one out including giving up a second home run to Beltre. Drew VerHagen was the lone Tigers reliever to no give up a run in this one.

Offensively, fans cannot ask for much more from the Tigers. Anthony Gose got the scoring going with an RBI triple in the second inning. Even more surprising than Gose getting an extra base hit was Jarrod Saltalamacchia spinning his wheels and scoring from first. Nick Castellanos continued to rake going 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI. He also drew a walk. That’s right, Nick Castellanos walked. Yes, this is the same guy from years past.

Rangers starter A.J. Griffin was chased early due to right shoulder tightness which may have hurt the Tigers chances at really opening this one up. When Griffin was replaced the runs kept coming but not for much longer. “Mr. Reliable” Ian Kinsler punished a high fastball and belted a home run to give the Tiger the lead, the same lead they would later lose.

To no ones surprise Justin Upton added three strikeouts to his season total making this loss all the more difficult to watch. The lone moment of beauty was Jose Iglesias‘s web gem in the third inning that robbed Beltre of a hit (not like he needed another one). Iglesias went to his right to make a back handed snag and threw across his body on one hop to nab Beltre.

Next: Detroit Tigers: Five Starting Pitching Trades

You knew it was over when former Detroit Tigers catcher Bryan Holaday legged out a triple in the top of the ninth inning.