The Rangers bagged another victory Friday night, as they took the series opener against the Tigers, 5-3. With the win, they extended their league-high winning streak to 10, further branding their team as the hottest in all of MLB.
The veterans of the club – Mike Napoli, Rougned Odor, Jonathan Lucroy, etc. – all contributed nicely, and kept the well-oiled offense of Texas rolling.
It’s a great W, but closer Matt Bush made himself, his teammates, and the fans sweat the ninth inning before sealing the deal, as he wasn’t able to record the third strikeout until he allowed one run and have two Tigers get on base.
Nevertheless, the Rangers should feeling invincible right now. They have nice weapons on offense and they’re showing how good those are. Among them is third-year outfielder Delino DeShields Jr., who’s now 10-for-22 (.454) with five runs in his last six games.
AJ Griffin, meanwhile, is next in line to headline the defense. He’s 4-0 with a 3.15 ERA in six starts this season, and the Tigers are just batting a modest .263 against him all-time (21-for-80).
Dating back to last season, Texas is 15-5 in Griffin’s last 20 starts.
Friday’s loss made the Tigers return to the losing column. They simply can’t build a good enough winning streak to create rhythm, as evidenced in the .500 W-L card. The defeat will keep the team hanging around the second and third place of the American League-Central division, instead of finally sitting at the top.
The offense went 7-for-34 (.225) for the night and could only muster two runs after eight innings. It’s a great representation of how so-so the batting has been this season, as they are just 17th in batting average, 14th in runs, 23rd in hits, and 18th in homer runs.
The same can be said on defense. It’s good that it’s All-Star Justin Verlander that’ll step up next, but it can be a little discouraging seeing that he’s only 3-3 with a 4.47 ERA on the year. The one bright note, however, is that the Rangers are just hitting at the .224 mark with him on the mound (51-for-228).
The Tigers are 7-2 in Verlander’s last nine starts at home.
