Tigers Cool Off Rangers Bats Behind Eduardo Rodriguez
Detroit starter Eduardo Rodriguez found a way to cool off a red-hot Texas batting order as the Tigers won 11-2 in pitcher Dallas Keuchel’s debut with the Rangers on Saturday night at Globe Life Field.
The Rangers (58-68) had scored at least six runs in their last three games. Nathaniel Lowe had a streak of three straight games with a home run. Right fielder Adolis García had a 22-game hitting streak entering the game.
Lowe’s streak ended. García extended his streak to 23 games with an infield single in the sixth inning. He also hit a home run in the ninth inning, one of eight hits for Texas.
But that was largely the highlight of a game in which the Tigers (49-78) rattled Rangers starter Dallas Keuchel (2-8), who gave up a season-high 11 hits in his Texas debut.
The Tigers hit double digits in runs by game’s end. They also had 18 hits, one shy of the 19 hits they had against the Rangers earlier this season, which is the most Texas pitching has given up in a single game. Eight of the Tigers’ nine starters had at least one hit, with Harold Castro and Tucker Barnhart each finishing with three.
But Rodriguez (3-3) was the story. Starting his second Major League game since mid-May, he went six innings, gave up six hits — all singles — and one run. That came in the bottom of the first as Lowe singled home Marcus Semien after he and Corey Seager started the game with back-to-back walks.
But Rodriguez got the Tigers out of the jam himself by fielding a line drive by Rangers catcher Jonah Heim and doubling up Lowe at first base to end the inning. The Rangers would be victims of that twice on Saturday, the other time coming in the sixth inning when they had two runners on and less than two outs.
“Those were tough to get back on,” Rangers interim manager Tony Beasley said. “Those were ones where your leads and your secondaries are just going to get you. Not much you can do about those.”
Rodriguez handed the game to the Tigers bullpen, who protected it and kept the Rangers off the scoreboard.
Keuchel was ineffective in his debut, giving up seven runs in 5 1/3 innings, along with one walk and one strikeout. A two-run blast by Jeimer Candelario led to the Rangers pulling Keuchel and inserting Dennis Santana on the mound.
Texas’ loss on Saturday amounted to a power outage. Entering the game, the Rangers had scored 70 runs, hit 14 home runs and batted .278/.347/.437/.784, numbers that put them in the top six in the Majors.
The Rangers conclude their three-game series with the Detroit Tigers on Sunday at 1:35 p.m. Kohei Arihara is the scheduled starter for Sunday’s finale.
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