Casey McGehee had four of Detroit’s 14 hits against Cole Hamels, Matt Boyd pitched seven scoreless innings and the Tigers snapped a five-game losing streak with a 2-0 victory over the AL-best Texas Rangers on Saturday night.
Advertisement
The Detroit rookie did his fellow starter two innings better, putting himself in the company of 2011 AL Cy Young Award victor Justin Verlander. The All-Star catcher has six homers and 11 RBIs with Texas after driving in five in the opener of a three-game series.The American League West-leading Rangers improved to 69-48 after their sixth win in the last seven games.
The Tigers had runners thrown out at third and home by outfielders in the fourth. On the other side, Griffin is coming off a game in which he allowed five runs in 4.2 innings. On way to the shutout, Fulmer only gave up four hits while striking out nine Rangers batters and walking zero. “He was able to make pitches when he needed to get out of something”. A 5-4-3 double-play kept the margin at 1-0.NOTES: Detroit SS Dixon Machado, recalled from Triple-A Toledo, made his first start Saturday in place of SS Jose Iglesias (hamstring), who went on the 15-day disabled list Friday.
Mitch Moreland and Carlos Beltran also homered against Sanchez. The Rangers have scored 17 runs in their last three games and four or more runs in six of their last seven games. Mike Aviles started at CF for the first time since August 28 last season and only the fifth time in his career. “I could hear them between every inning and me walking off, and it kind of gets me going a little bit”. “Who knows? All I can do is control the present and keep pitching every fifth day”. Cabrera leads the league with 13 opposite-field home runs. Fulmer struck out Rougned Odor to end the threat.
“For him to come in and make an immediate impact not only defensively, but offensively, is pretty special”, Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. Alex Claudio allowed a run on two hits in 2 1/3 innings of relief.
In 11 games since being traded from Milwaukee, Lucroy has six homers. According to ESPN Stats & Info research, Kennedy is averaging 92 miles per hour on the pitch this season – the hardest he has thrown in the past eight seasons – and opponents are batting just.202 against it, which is the second-lowest average among qualifying Major League Baseball pitchers behind Chicago’s Jake Arrieta. First pitch is scheduled for 2:05 pm CT.
The 14 hits also tied a club record for a Texas pitcher.
J.D. Martinez’s seventh-inning home run was the 100th of his career.
Detroit begins a seven-game homestand tonight against the Royals and Red Sox. Ian Kinsler leads Detroit with 136 hits, Miguel Cabrera has 76 RBI and Victor Martinez has 20 home runs.
Advertisement
-Lefty Daniel Norris is making his second start since rejoining the Tigers rotation. The Rangers are 4-0 in their last 4 during game 3 of a series and 4-0 in Griffins last 4 starts.
