ARLINGTON -- Sitting on the fringe of the playoff race with a month to go until the Trade Deadline, the Tigers would like to get on a run and avoid the dreaded “seller” label.
As manager A.J. Hinch said before a three-game series opener against the Rangers on Thursday, “We are a good team with a bad record and we’re going to keep chipping away at that to hopefully get us into a better position to factor in as the season goes along. There’s a lot of belief in this team.”
That belief didn’t diminish a few hours later, despite a 10-4 setback to the Rangers at Globe Life Field. The Tigers are hoping it’s just a small bump in the road, an outlier compared to how the team has played of late including the club’s first sweep at Yankee Stadium in 18 years earlier this week.
Thursday marked the first loss by more than two runs since June 6, a 4-0 loss vs. the Mariners, and the first time a starter has given up more than four runs since Jack Flaherty allowed six (three earned) over 3 1/3 innings on May 22 vs. the Orioles.
Detroit starter Framber Valdez had a frustrating outing, allowing five runs on nine hits with two walks and one strikeout over five innings. Valdez gave up four runs on nine hits over six innings in his previous start vs. the Astros on Saturday.
Valdez blamed his execution, saying he failed to get into favorable counts and many of his pitches were flat.
“They could read my pitches very well, so I need to work better in attacking,” Valdez said through an interpreter. “Go back to my mode of attacking early in the count. It’s something I’ve got to work on.”
The five runs given up were the most Valdez has allowed in eight career starts at Globe Life Field. He entered with a 5-1 record and 2.31 ERA when facing the Rangers at their home.
But the script flipped this time around. The Rangers pounced on Valdez for three runs in the second inning, including a home run by Elias Díaz and consecutive seven-pitch walks drawn by Justin Foscue and Josh Jung to load the bases and score a run, respectively.
Jung and Ezequiel Duran extended the Rangers' lead to 5-0 with RBI hits in the fourth. The only silver lining for Valdez was an eight-pitch, perfect fifth inning to end his day.
However, it was too little, too late for a Tigers team that has yet to come back from more than a three-run deficit this season. Still, the Tigers had their chances on Thursday.
After being no-hit by Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi the first four innings, designated hitter Colt Keith led off the fifth with a solo shot to right-center field. Later in the inning, Hao-Yu Lee sent a first-pitch splitter just out of the reach of Rangers left fielder Alejandro Osuna and over the fence for a two-run blast.
“The first time through, it was tough. Obviously he had his way with us,” Hinch said of Eovaldi. “The split was good. He could spin the breaking ball. He located a lot of really good pitches. Then, the second time through, we started to get a little bit better pitches to hit and didn’t miss them to apply some pressure.”
The Tigers eventually had the go-ahead run at the plate with two outs in the fifth, but Kerry Carpenter grounded out. They had another opportunity with the bases loaded in the sixth, but Lee struck out to end the threat.
Those missed chances were the closest the Tigers would come. The Rangers pulled away with a single run in the bottom of the sixth, three in the seventh and one more in the eighth.
The Tigers scored one more in the eighth and finished the night with 11 hits, but were just 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left 10 on base. They also struck out 14 times compared to the Rangers’ three.
“We’re chasing it from behind. That’s a tough recipe, but we did give ourselves a chance,” Hinch said. “They were able to get out of it and then tack on runs. Obviously when you’re trailing, especially as much as we fell behind to try to get back in the game the best you can, we did by hitting the ball out of the ballpark a little bit, but just came up short.”
With an off-day Friday, the Tigers will have a breather to regroup before returning this weekend in hopes of finding a way to sustain a more prolonged run.