Another fielding error comes back to bite Tigers in loss to Rangers

DETROIT — For a second straight game, an error in the infield did the Tigers in during the late stages of a loss to the Texas Rangers.

A day after the Tigers' poor ninth-inning fielding allowed the Rangers to steal a win at Comerica Park, the Rangers' winning run on Thursday scored in the eighth inning after the Tigers missed an easy opportunity to tag a runner on a rundown.

With one out and Leody Taveras at second, Marcus Semien hit a ground ball to shortstop Javier Báez, who caught the baserunner leaving early. But upon the ball being relayed to third baseman Gio Urshela, the tag could not be applied and Taveras made it safely to third.

Instead of being able to tag the base and end the inning on a ground ball to Spencer Torkelson the next at-bat, the Tigers' first baseman tried throwing it to second for a double play. But Torkelson's throw was off the mark, allowing Taveras to score the deciding run of a 9-7 Rangers win in the series finale.

Both starters — Tigers' Kenta Maeda and Rangers' Jack Leiter, the latter of whom was making his MLB debut — were roughed up by a pair of energetic offenses in the early goings. Maeda went 2 2/3 innings while giving up seven hits, six runs, two walks and three home runs with two strikeouts for the Tigers (10-9). Leiter, meanwhile, went 3 2/3 innings and gave up eight hits, seven runs, three walks and struck out three for the Rangers (11-9).

Riley Greene had a double and a triple, Báez had a pair of doubles and Mark Canha and Torkelson each recorded two walks, with Canha adding two singles and Torkelson a double. Semien, Jonah Heim and Adolis Garcia homered for Texas.

It didn't take Texas long to get on the board. After Maeda fell behind 2-0 in the first at-bat of the game, he served up a four-seam meatball that was deposited into the left-field bullpen by Semien for a 1-0 Rangers lead. Maeda gave up a single to Corey Seager the following batter but got out of the inning with a double play and a groundout.

The second inning featured more trouble for Maeda. He gave up a six-pitch leadoff walk to Rangers third baseman Josh Smith, an RBI double to Wyatt Langford and a two-run home run to Heim for a 4-0 Rangers lead with no outs.

The Tigers responded in their half of the second inning. Colt Keith drew a five-pitch walk to leadoff the inning and Urshela followed with a single to put two runners on for Báez, who turned on a first-pitch fastball and put it down the line for an RBI double to make it 4-1. Carson Kelly scored Urshela from third on a fielder's choice and Greene tripled to make it 4-3. Canha's second hit of the game brought home Greene and tied the game at 4.

By the time Maeda departed the game, though, the Rangers had another lead. Garcia launched a one-out home run to left center in the top of the third. Langford walked and Heim singled to make it 6-4 and end Maeda's day. Evan Carter scored Semien with a sacrifice fly the following inning.

...continued

swipe to next page