Tigers 3, Rangers 1: Holy crap, Jordan Zimmermann is good now

Bartolo Colon only made two mistakes in Friday’s game. Jordan Zimmermann only made one. That was the difference in a tightly fought contest, as the Detroit Tigers managed a 3-1 win over the Texas Rangers.

The Rangers got on the board first in this game. Leadoff hitter Shin-Soo Choo sent Zimmermann’s second pitch to deep center field for a solo home run to give Texas a 1-0 advantage. The Tigers answered in the bottom of the second by way of a James McCann home run with one runner on. The two-run shot came on a hanging breaking ball, and gave the Tigers a 2-1 lead. JaCoby Jones padded the lead with a solo shot off Colon in the bottom of the eighth, pushing the advantage to 3-1.

That was it for offense, but Jordan Zimmermann was the real story. The beleaguered veteran had his best start in a Tigers uniform, striking out 11 while holding the Rangers to just four hits in eight innings. He mixed all four of his pitches wonderfully, generating ugly swing after ugly swing with his off-speed offerings. Even his year-long struggles the third time through the order didn’t matter, as Zimmermann retired the final 11 batters he faced.

Colon was nearly as good. The Tigers only managed five hits in this game, three of which were singles. Colon located his fastball and changeup on the outside corner all evening long, generating plenty of weak contact to offset his lack of whiffs (he only struck out three). The hangers to McCann and Jones were the only mistakes he made; unfortunately for him, his team paid for them. Neither pitcher walked a batter in this game.