Rangers 5, Tigers 3: Ninth-inning rally comes up short for Detroit

DETROIT -- Randy Wolf came back from a rough third inning to hold the Texas Rangers to one hit across his final four frames, but the Detroit Tigers offense was still missing in action. Despite a multi-hit day from Miguel Cabrera and a ninth-inning home run from Ian Kinsler, the Tigers lost 5-3 to the Rangers.

Wolf ate up some innings and he kept the Tigers in the game. Unfortunately the offense didn't do the same for him. He struggled in the third inning and gave up five straight singles, allowing four runs. But an errant throw by left fielder Tyler Collins was partially to blame, as it allowed a run to score. Afterward Wolf recovered to allow just one hit through the seventh. All but one of his strikeouts came after the third frame.

The Tigers bullpen was solid. The only mistake made was by Guido Knudson, who made his MLB debut with the Tigers in the top of the ninth. He struck out a pair of batters to start and end the frame, but also gave up a one-out solo blast to Rougned Ordor to make it a 5-0 deficit.

The offense. Oh, that offense. Miguel Cabrera had another double and a single to give him a two-hit day. Ian Kinsler had a double in the fifth. J.D. Martinez and Nick Castellanos had back-to-back singles in the second. Castellanos tripled in the sixth. No one scored. Not much else to say when the offense was more silent than the tombs of Egypt. Kinsler's three-run homer in the ninth was nice, but it was too little, too late.

ROARS:

Randy Wolf: He needed to eat some innings. He did just that, going seven strong and striking out five batters. He gave up four runs on nine hits, but the runs were all scored in the third. Wolf did settle in to retire 15 of his last 16 batters faced.

Drew VerHagen: Put up a scoreless eighth inning, going through the 3-4-5 hitters on just 13 pitches and no hits.

Ian Kinsler: Had a three-run bomb in the ninth with two outs, putting the Tigers within two runs of tying the game. He'd also had a double in the fifth inning.

HISSES:

Tigers offense: Had seven hits across seven frames and three of those runners reached third base. They didn't score once. Before Ian Kinsler hit a three-run bomb in the ninth inning, the Tigers managed to score no runs on 10 hits while going 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Cabrera had another solid day, but when Kinsler doubled and Tyler Collins got him to third, Cabrera grounded out to end a scoring chance. Basically, everything that could go wrong for the offense, did.

STREAKS AND STATS:

• Miguel Cabrera's streak of five consecutive hits ended in the fifth inning when he grounded out (6-3) to end the frame, stranding Kinsler at third base.
• Guido Knudson started the ninth inning for the Tigers, making his MLB debut. He is the fourth Tigers pitcher to make his MLB debut with the organization this season.
• Knudson got his first MLB strikeout on the first batter he faced, a 95 mph fastball that froze Elvis Andrus. He then gave up a 419-foot bomb to Rougned Odor for his first MLB HR allowed.

WIN PROBABILITY GRAPH:

Source: FanGraphs