Detroit Tigers: Rally in ninth inning isn’t enough in Arlington

The Detroit Tigers played their first game in Texas tonight and had a rally in the ninth, but just fell short of a victory by one run.

The Detroit Tigers headed out to Texas for their first game of the three-game series with the Texas Rangers earlier tonight. The Rangers led for the vast majority of the game, but the Tigers staged a late rally in the ninth that got them within striking distance. The Tigers couldn’t capitalize with runners on though, and would ultimately wind up losing the game 4-5.

The big story for Detroit tonight was the major league debut of their recent acquisition, Travis Demeritte. Demeritte came over from the Atlanta farm system in the Shane Greene trade and started his first major league game tonight in right field. He ended up going 1-for-2 with a triple and two walks. He also stole a base and scored one of the teams four runs in the game. It was a great start for the young prospect.

The game was not so great for another Detroit rookie, Tyler Alexander. The 25-year-old pitcher gave up 10 hits and four earned runs in just 5.2 innings. His ERA now sits at 4.50 with a 0-2 record on the year. Alexander has looked decent so far, but he had some trouble figuring the Texas lineup out tonight. Due to Alexander’s success so far, it is likely that he will get some more shots at the major league level.

Detroit had more struggles getting runners in, but looked better tonight, going 3-11 with runners in scoring position. This is something that has plagued the Tigers all year. It will be interesting to see how the shifting of prospects will impact the offense over the remainder of the year.

The Detroit Tigers continue their series tomorrow night in Texas at 8:05 p.m. EST. Matthew Boyd is scheduled to make his first start since the trade deadline. Hopefully, with all the trade talk in the past, he will be able to set in and continue to have a great year.