Rangers 4, Tigers 2: Absent offense sinks Detroit for 3rd straight game

DETROIT -- Matt Boyd wasn't perfect but he was solid enough for the Detroit Tigers. It's too bad because the offense couldn't capitalize on opportunities and they lost 4-2 to the Rangers. The Tigers dropped the series to Texas and now have a three-game losing streak following the three-game winning streak the team had going on.

The only thing of significance that Boyd had given up to the Rangers in his first five innings was a solo home run to Chris Gimenez. Other than that, he gave up a leadoff double in the fifth and a single in the second. He tallied only three strikeouts and walked a pair of batters in the first and fifth innings, respectively, but overall it was a solid outing.

It was in the sixth that Boyd got dinged for a couple of runs. He hit Shin-Soo Choo to start the frame then gave up back-to-back hits. The second gave the Rangers a 3-2 lead when Mitch Moreland roped a two-run double to the right field corner. Yet, Boyd recovered and induced two flyouts before striking out Ryan Strausborger to end the frame.

Drew VerHagen came on in relief in the seventh and gave up a single and an intentional walk, but he got out of it with no issues. That wasn't the case with the Tigers offense as they had a multitude of difficulties scoring runs. The only two came about on an errant throw by Rangers' Choo in the first, and an RBI single in the fourth that scored James McCann -- who had tripled.

ROARS:

Matt Boyd: He gave up three runs -- two in the sixth -- but for the majority of the game he was solid and held the Rangers to a run through five innings.

Miguel Cabrera: Had yet another multi-hit day. Unfortunately he did not score once. He did drive in an unearned run in the first inning, though.

James McCann/Jose Iglesias: Got a one-out triple in the fourth inning and came around to score in Jose Iglesias' RBI single. Iglesias also walked in his first plate appearance. McCann also threw out a baserunner in the eighth from his knees. Because, of course he did.

HISSES:

Tigers offense: This is a recording. The team had hits. It's just that they squandered most of the opportunities given to them.

Blaine Hardy: Gave up his first home run in quite some time, a solo shot in the eighth to give the Rangers a more comfortable 4-2 lead.

STREAKS AND STATS:

• In the last nine times that Cabrera has reached base, he has not scored once.
• Miguel Cabrera's two singles gives him a lifetime .727 batting average against Cole Hamels over 12 plate appearances.
• James McCann tripled in the fourth inning, marking the fourth triple of the season for the Tigers catcher. It's the most triples by a Tigers catcher since Alex Avila had four in 2011, Brandon Inge's four-triple season, and Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez had five in 2005 and four in 2006.
• Blaine Hardy gave up a home run in the eighth inning, ending his scoreless streak without allowing a homer. He went 87 games and 84 2/3 innings between home runs. It was the second-longest active streak in appearances at the major league level for any pitcher.
• In the fifth inning Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre was ejected from the game by home plate umpire Adam Hamari for arguing calls and strikes. Then Rangers manager Jeff Banister went out to talk to Hamari to find out why. At that point he had not yet been ejected. Beltre continued to quibble with first base umpire Ron Kulpa from the top step of the dugout. Banister went to calm him down and was subsequently ejected when he left the dugout to argue with Kulpa as well. At least, that's what we think. Here's the video.

WIN PROBABILITY GRAPH:

Source: FanGraphs