TEXAS suffered only second loss in last 7 games…lost by a season-high 9-run margin tonight, team’s biggest loss since 9/16/21 vs. HOU (12-1). .. 2 of 5 for Rangers Biggest losses in ’22 have been against Tigers (also 14-7 on 6/18 at DET)…Texas is still 9-5 in last 14 G. 8/13…the team enters Sunday’s decider with a chance of 4 straight undefeated series…Sunday will also decide the TEX/DET season series.
DALLAS KEUCHEL took the loss in his Texas debut tonight (5.1 IP, 7 R-ER)… drops to 2-8, 8.84 in 13 G/GS with CWS, ARI and TEX in 2022… fifth time this season for a TEX Starter to allow 7+ R, 2nd since early July (also Perez, 8/9 at HOU)… 14th different pitcher to start for Texas in ’22.
ADOLIS GARCIA hit a 104.4 mph shot into the glove of 3B Jeimer Candelario for a single in the sixth inning, extending his hitting streak to a career-best 23 games…it’s the longest hitting streak in the American League this season, the third-longest in MLB in ’22, and now the fifth-longest in Rangers history…it’s only the seventh-longest hitting streak of at least 23 games in Texas club history…he added a solo shot in the ninth inning, his first home run at Globe Life Field since 6/25 vs. WAS (low).
NATHANIAL LOWE recorded his third consecutive multi-hit game (2-4), as the season’s batting average stands at .299… he briefly jumped to a .300 batting average with his hit in the sixth inning tonight … saw his HR streak end at 3 games, but extended his RBI streak to 4 games in a row… Lowe on his last 7 G beg. 8/20: .452/.469/.903/1.372 (14-31), 4 HR, 3B, 11 RBI, 1 BB, 4 SO.
DETROIT leveled this 3-game set (1-1) with a 9-run victory tonight, the second-largest margin of victory this season (13-0 on 4/23 vs. COL) and the largest in a competition outside of home since a 15-5 win on 9/3/21 at CIN (+10)…they’ve gone 3-3 in 6 G’s against Texas this season, and need a win in tomorrow’s series finale to secure a season series win against the Rangers for the second straight year (6-1 vs. TEX in 2021)…has combined to top Texas 39-29 (+10) this season, with all 3 wins over the Rangers by a margin of at least 4 runs… 8 of the 9 club starters finished with multiple hits.
Edward Rodriguez allowed just one run (earned) on 6 hits in 6.0 innings tonight, his first quality start since May 13 against BAL (6.2 IP, 0 R)… he’s been 2-0 with a 0.82 ERA ( 1 ER/11.0 IP) in his last 2 starts since returning from the Restricted List…he threw 5 or fewer pitches to 22 of the 24 batters he faced tonight, averaging just 3.25 pitches per batter…it was aided by a 4-pitch fifth inning in which he retired Bubba Thompson, Marcus Semien and Corey Seager.
JEIMER CANDELARIO hit a 2-run homer to the visiting bullpen in left center field in the 6th inning… 5 of the switch hitter’s 11 HRs this season have come as a right-handed hitter… tonight’s blast broke the worst HR in 24 games of the drought season, as his last round trip came on 7/26 against SD… added a double in the eighth, tying his season high for a single game in extra-base hits (3x, last 26 /7 vs SD).
VICTOR KINGS recorded a pair of doubles tonight to extend his season-best hitting streak to 11 straight games, the second-longest streak of his career (13 from 8/28-9/12/19) and the third-longest of a Tigre this season (13-Cabrera, 12-Schoop) … both doubles came from left-hander Dallas Keuchel, marking the second time in the switch-hitter Reyes’ career to add multiple extra-base hits by a left-handed pitcher in one game (also 2B/3B the 09/16/19 against BAL).
JAVIER BAEZ scored 2 RBIs on a pair of singles, the second of which was the 900th hit of his Major League career… 7 of his team’s 26 multi-hit outings came in the month of August… Baez has hits in 5 of 6 games vs. Texas this season at .250 (6-24).
MISCELLANEOUS: Dennis Santana (1.2 SHO IP) matched his longest scoreless outing of the year (also 6/12 on CWS)…Eric Haase’s 428-foot ninth-inning home run was the second-longest of the season (433-foot on 6/26 at ARI)…Riley Greene has safely hit a season/career-high in 6 straight games at .462 (12-26)…Harold Castro (3-for-5) leads Detroit in 3-plus hit games this season (12).
