Rangers 9, Tigers 4: The Tigers lost again and we didn’t pay very much attention

The Detroit Tigers lost another baseball game on Sunday, this one a 9-4 defeat at the hands of the Texas Rangers somewhere in the greater Dallas area. The loss was Detroit’s third in a row, and marked their second series sweep of the 10-game road trip.

The Rangers got on board early against Tigers starter Jordan Zimmermann scoring two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Zimmermann stiffened up after that, however, holding Texas scoreless for the next three innings. This gave the Tigers offense time to put together a bit of a rally, with a bit of help from the Rangers’ defense. Rougned Odor threw away a potential double play ball in the fourth, allowing Miguel Cabrera to score, cutting Texas’ lead in half.

The Tigers took the lead in the top of the fifth when Niko Goodrum hit a hustle double to center field, scoring John Hicks and Gordon Beckham. Hicks and Beckham had both reached on singles to start the inning, then advanced on a sacrifice bunt from Harold Castro before scoring on Goodrum’s double. Miguel Cabrera then walked, sending Rangers starter Pedro Payano to the showers, but the Tigers were unable to tack on any runs.

As a result, their lead was short-lived. Former AL Central foe Danny Santana gave the Rangers a 4-3 lead with a two-run shot in the bottom of the fifth, his 17th home run of the year. Texas’ defense helped the Tigers out again when third baseman Logan Forsythe threw a would-be double play ball all the way into the right field corner. Goodrum, who was sliding into second as Forsythe’s throw sailed wide, scored on the play to tie the score at 4.

After that, the Tigers bullpen surrendered five runs. The Tigers defense also committed three errors, though none of the nine runs Tigers pitchers gave up in this game were unearned. Jose Cisnero took the loss, but Nick Ramirez and Eduardo Jimenez weren’t great either.

We’d go into more detail on the final innings, but those of us who were even watching this game in the first place almost certainly tuned out by this point, and I’m sure most of those reading this did the same.

So, here are the important details you probably want to know.

• Travis Demeritte didn’t have his best day. He batted sixth, but went 0-for-4. He continued to work plenty of deep counts, however; he saw 24 pitches in his four at-bats.
• Jake Rogers did not play.
• The Tigers are now 32-75, six wins behind the Baltimore Orioles in the standings. This gives them a four-game “lead” in the reverse standings for the No. 1 pick in the 2020 MLB draft.