ARLINGTON, Texas — Spencer Torkelson hit a game-tying solo home run in the top of the eighth inning, and for a moment, the Detroit Tigers were eyeing a comeback and back-to-back wins to open a four-game series against the Texas Rangers.
But the Rangers, the best team in the American League West, put the Tigers in their place the bottom of the eighth inning. The Tigers lost, 8-3, to the Rangers on Tuesday at Globe Life Field.
Although the Tigers (34-44) punched back with Torkelson’s game-tying homer after allowing three runs in the sixth inning, the Rangers returned the blow with five runs in the eighth to put the game out of reach.
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The Rangers took a 4-3 lead with Ezequiel Duran’s solo home run against a sweeping slider from right-handed reliever Brendan White, winning a 12-pitch battle.
“I hung it,” White said. “It was too high. A lot of the other pitches that I was throwing were down, and he was just fouling them off. That one just hung up. Nothing really more than that, just a mistake.”
White exited with two outs, leaving a runner on first base, and was replaced by left-hander Anthony Misiewicz. The 28-year-old, who has pitched in parts of four MLB seasons, was claimed off waivers from the Arizona Diamondbacks on June 18 and promoted from Triple-A Toledo before Tuesday’s game.
He allowed four hits in a row.
“He has been in the big leagues before, so I think he can rely on his experience more than being unfamiliar,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “That was a rough night. We called him up because we needed the arm and the bullpen is taxed.”
Three of those two-out hits drove in runs: Corey Seager’s RBI double, Nathaniel Lowe’s RBI single and Adolis García’s two-run home run. On Seager’s double, left fielder Kerry Carpenter took a bad route to the fly ball, which bounced off the wall and rolled back into the outfield.
“It looked like he tracked it for a bit,” Hinch said, “and then the ball kept going away from him.”
Before those five runs, Torkelson evened the score at three runs apiece with a solo home run off right-handed reliever Josh Sborz. He pulled a third-pitch slider 370 feet to left field for his ninth homer of the season.
It was his third hit in his last 33 at-bats.
“It was a big boost, especially after falling down,” Hinch said. “Tork has been grinding. We scheduled a day off for him (Wednesday), but it was nice to see him come back to the dugout happier than he’s been.”
Rangers strike back
The momentum began to shift when right-hander Matt Manning — who returned from the injured list for his first start since April 11 — took the mound for the sixth inning and immediately put two runners on base.
He walked Lowe on four pitches and hit García with a second-pitch fastball. Challenged to escape, Manning induced a groundout before Robbie Grossman’s sacrifice fly to center field.
“All night, I had my good stuff, lose it, bring it back,” Manning said, evaluating his overall performance. “A little bit of inconsistencies, but against a good lineup like that, I’ll take those results any time.”
The sac fly ended Manning’s start and trimmed the Tigers’ lead to 2-1.
“Some good, some battle,” Hinch said. “He still sprayed the ball quite a bit, but he seemingly stayed in there and hung in there the best he could. … I was glad to have him back. It’s something for him to build on. We got his pitch count up as best we could.”
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Left-handed reliever Chasen Shreve replaced Manning with two outs and a runner on third base. The Rangers countered by pinch-hitting Josh Jung, a right-handed hitter. The two players battled for eight pitches, with Shreve throwing fastballs and splitters below the strike zone.
Jung won the intense matchup, and tied the game at two runs, with an RBI single to right field.
Next, Duran hit an infield single that ended up between Shreve, first baseman Torkelson and second baseman Andy Ibáñez as nobody covered first base on the play. Finally, Leody Taveras hit an RBI single to left field.
The single from Taveras put the Rangers ahead, 3-2.
The exit velocities on the three singles: 70.7 mph (Jung), 35.7 mph (Duran) and 75.3 mph (Taveras). White, who replaced Shreve, used a first-pitch slider to get Marcus Semien to fly out to deep left field, ending the sixth inning.
Manning allowed two runs on three hits and four walks with four strikeouts across 5⅔ innings, throwing 47 of 84 pitches for strikes. His raw pitches were sharp, and his four-seam fastball averaged 93.5 mph, but he oftentimes struggled to command his pitches to the arm side.
“I felt good,” Manning said. “It was the first time I went into fifth (inning) after like 10 weeks. (Hinch) let me go back out there, just wish I would have been able to get on those hitters a little quicker in the sixth, but it happens.”
Tigers strike first
The Tigers continued their trend of scoring early in games.
This time, four consecutive singles off left-hander Martín Pérez produced two runs in the second inning. Javier Báez, Jonathan Schoop, Miguel Cabrera and Tyler Nevin were responsible for the hits.
Cabrera and Nevin drove in runs for a 2-0 lead.
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The Tigers had an opportunity to score more runs with two runners on base, but Pérez escaped when Jake Rogers struck out swinging and Jake Marisnick grounded into a double play.
In the fifth inning, Rogers worked a leadoff walk. He moved up to second base on Marisnick’s sacrifice bunt and third base on Matt Vierling’s groundout. With two outs, though, Torkelson struck out on three pitches.
Pérez, an All-Star last season, allowed two runs on four hits and two walks with four strikeouts over six innings, throwing 53 of 88 pitches for strikes. His changeup generated six of his seven whiffs.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.