Tigers ride pitching chaos, Torkelson's blast to series win over Rangers

Chris McCosky, The Detroit News on May 3, 2026

Published in Baseball

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DETROIT — It felt like 2024 again.

It was Casey Mize’s start day, but with him on the injured list with a groin strain, the Detroit Tigers dusted off the pitching chaos strategy that helped them storm into the postseason two years ago.

It’s not always popular with the fan base and it may have lost some of its luster last season, but it was executed to near perfection Sunday as the Tigers beat the Texas Rangers, 7-1, in front of 24,083 at Comerica Park in the rubber match of the three-game series.

Manager AJ Hinch deployed six different relievers to cover the nine innings. And as the game played out, the method to his strategic madness started to unfold.

He targeted the Rangers’ two most-productive left-handed hitters — leadoff hitter Brandon Nimmo and No. 3 hitter Corey Seager — hoping to match them up with left-handed pitchers as many times through the order as he could.

And that’s what happened. Nimmo and Seager faced lefties their first three times through — Tyler Holton in the first inning and Brant Hurter the next two times. They were a combined 1 for 6 in those at-bats.

In between, the Rangers’ best right-handed hitters — Josh Jung, Jake Burger and Ezequiel Duran — got righties Brenan Hanifee and Ricky Vanasco.

It wasn’t perfect. Duran doubled off Vanasco in the seventh and after advancing on a wild pitch, scored on a ground out.

But it ended up as effective as a quality start — seven innings, one run, five hits, six strikeouts and two walks.

Hurter soldiered the heaviest load. He covered 3 1/3 scoreless innings allowing just two hits. The last pitch he threw induced a 3-6-3 double play from Seager in the sixth inning.

In 18 innings this season, Hurter has allowed just three earned runs.

Vanasco, in his season debut, struck out two in 1 1/3 innings.

The Tigers’ hitters, meanwhile, took a few innings to crack the code against Rangers starter Jack Leiter. There was no prior indication he would or could be as dominant and he was through the first four innings.

In his four previous starts, he’d allowed 15 earned runs in 20 1/3 innings with five home runs. His fastball velocity in those starts was between 95 and 96 mph.

He was a very different pitcher early on Sunday. He was burning the edges with 97- and 98-mph four-seamers and sinkers and stealing strikes with curveballs and sliders. The Tigers’ lefties would see 93-mph changeups, as well.

Leiter dispatched the first 12 hitters, striking out six, including Matt Vierling, Colt Keith, Riley Greene, Spencer Torkelson and Kerry Carpenter in succession between the first and second innings.

In the fifth inning, his velocity dipped back to his norms and he started to miss his spots. In other words, he became more human.

After walking Greene on four pitches, Leiter hung a slider to Torkelson. That ball left the bat at 102 mph and sailed over the Tigers’ bullpen and into the first row of seats in left field. It was Torkelson’s sixth homer.

In the sixth, Jake Rogers was awarded a triple on a sinker liner to center that Evan Carter dived for but missed. The ball rolled to the track.

Rookie Kevin McGonigle brought Rogers home with a pull-side single to right.

The Tigers broke the game open with four runs in the seventh, chasing Leiter and tacking on a couple of softly-struck RBI knocks against former Tiger Tyler Alexander.

Hao-Yu Lee ended Leiter’s night with a two-out RBI single. After Rogers blooped a single, McGonigle delivered his second RBI hit and Vierling looped a two-run double.

Thus, the Tigers bullpen was able to bridge the game to Kyle Finnegan and Burch Smith in the eighth and ninth innings with a six-run lead. Good work if you can get it.

The Tigers (18-17) improve to 12-3 at home and have won all five of their series at Comerica.

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