Rangers 8, Tigers 5: Game starts late, Tigers start later

Despite leaving the west coast on Wednesday, the Detroit Tigers made their latest start of the season on Friday. A two-hour, 42 minute rain delay pushed their start time with the Texas Rangers back to nearly 11:00 p.m. ET. Mercifully, it didn’t last long; the Tigers allowed seven runs in the first three innings en route to an 8-5 loss.

Truth be told, I didn’t even watch this game (Three hour rain delay? Ain’t nobody got time for that). However, the box score is pretty telling. Anibal Sanchez reverted to his early season form, allowing eight runs on eight hits in four innings. The Rangers, led by new acquisitions Jonathan Lucroy and Carlos Beltran, hit four home runs off Sanchez as they built an 8-1 lead before the Tigers’ beleaguered starter was pulled.

The Tigers didn’t muster much offense off Rangers starter Yu Darvish until the game was well in hand. James McCann had an RBI double in the second, but the Tigers didn’t score again until McCann homered off Darvish in the seventh inning. Tyler Collins added a two-run homer off reliever Tony Barnette later in the inning, but the Tigers didn’t threaten much after that.

One positive from this game was the work of Warwick Saupold, recently re-recalled after Jose Iglesias was placed on the 15-day disabled list. Saupold allowed four hits in three scoreless innings, and picked up a pair of strikeouts.

ROARS:

James McCann: Two extra base hits and three RBI — off Yu Darvish, no less — for the Tigers’ backstop.

Warwick Saupold: Even if he didn’t look all that dominant in his outing, three scoreless innings is better than we can say for Anibal Sanchez in this game.

HISSES:

Anibal Sanchez: Sanchez allowed a HR/9 of 36.0 in this game.

Weather: I thought Texas was supposed to be dry.

STATS AND INFO:

• The Tigers have lost five straight games.
• The Tigers’ pythagorean expected win-loss record is 59-56, two wins short of their current 61-54 mark.

WIN PROBABILITY GRAPH: