Detroit Tigers: Bullpen falters late against Rangers

The Detroit Tigers lost the second game of their series in Arlington tonight against the Texas Rangers despite getting ahead early in the game.

The Detroit Tigers played the second game of their series in Arlington tonight against the Texas Rangers. They had the bats going early, scoring two runs in the first and an additional two in the fifth, but their bullpen could not close out the game successfully. Detroit would go on to lose 5-4 in the tenth.

Jacoby Jones opened the game with a hit and was driven in by a 430-foot bomb to center by Miguel Cabrera, giving the Tigers an early 2-0 lead. The Rangers would tie the game off of a run in the third and another in the fourth, but Harold Castro would take back the lead for the Tigers on a two-RBI single in the fifth. This lead was short-lived, however, as Buck Farmer would allow two runs to score in the seventh and Nick Ramirez would give up a walk-off home run to Rougned Odor in the tenth.

Matthew Boyd had another strong outing, despite the outcome of the game. He went for 5.2 innings and struck out nine batters, while only giving up two earned runs. Boyd would have likely pitched deeper into the game, but his pitch count was already around 100. After tonight, his ERA is now 3.91 on the season and he received a no-decision for the game.

Detroit’s offense has performed better the last few games, but still has some areas for improvement. Even though they plated four runs, they left nine runners on base on the night. Travis Demeritte and Jake Rogers, the two newest members of the team, also had shaky performances. Both of them went hitless and struck out three times on the night.

The Detroit Tigers will get one more shot against the Rangers tomorrow at 3:05 p.m. EST. Jordan Zimmermann is scheduled to start for Detroit. He is coming off of his first win of the season and will surely look to add to that total.