Welcome back, Matt Manning. Just as the Tigers have had to bid adieu to Matthew Boyd for the remainder of the season, it’s a welcome sign to see Manning return and have a relatively solid first outing back. The walks were a bit higher than one might want, but we’re not going to be too hard on the guy, he just got back.
Let’s see how the Tigers did in Texas tonight. Spoiler alert: it was bad.
Martin Perez started strong with a 1-2-3 inning, and while Manning would have liked to do the same, he did allow a two-out single to Nathaniel Lowe. No runs on either side of things.
The Tigers brought some early hustle in the second, which was nice to see, though it would have been nicer if they KEPT bringing it. Javier Baez kicked it off with a single, then Jonathan Schoop singled and Baez was able to advance to third. A Miguel Cabrera single brought Baez home, and then a Tyler Nevin single scored Schoop. The Tigers were up 2-0. Enjoy this while it lasts.
Manning showed a little struggle in the bottom of the second. Jonah Heim walked, but was eliminated by a Robbie Grossman fielder’s choice. Travis Jankowski walked, but Manning regained himself to end out the inning with no additional runners.
Perez started off the third with another 1-2-3, and Manning had a pretty decent third of his own allowing only a single to Corey Seager.
The fourth inning was sponsored by FitBit, as Perez allowed a walk to Cabrera, and Manning allowed a walk to Jankowski. Unfortunately for Manning he also allowed Jankowski to steal second thanks to a failed pickoff throw. Neither team scored any runs.
The fifth inning was likewise scoreless. Perez allowed a leadoff walk to Jake Rogers, who then advanced to second on a sacrifice hit from Jake Marisnick. Jakes helping Jakes. The next two outs left Rogers stranded on third, however. Bottom of the inning and Marcus Semien got a one-out single but was eliminated by the double play to end the inning.
Sixth inning had Perez back to another 1-2-3. Bottom half saw things going awry for Manning. Lowe walked, then Adolis Garcia was hit by a pitch. Both baserunners advanced on a groundout, and then Grossman hit a sacrifice fly to score Lowe. That was it for Manning, who went 5.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 4 K on 84 pitches. Chasen Shreve came out of the pen, and immediately allowed a single to Josh Jung to score Garcia and tie the game. Eziquiel Duran singled, and the Leody Taveras singled to score Jung. That was it for Shreve after the minimum three batters and damage done. Brendan White was out of the pen and got the final out.
The Tigers went 1-2-3 again in the seventh against reliever Sborz. White returned for the bottom of the seventh. Lowe got a one-out walk, then Garcia walked as well. But no additional damage was done.
Onto the top of the eighth and what’s this? A two-out home run from Spencer Torkelson? Heck yeah, kids. Tie game.
White was back out for the Tigers in the bottom of the eighth. That proved to, perhaps, not be an ideal choice as he soon gave up a one-out solo home run to Duran. A Semien single then chased White from the game and brought Anthony Misiewicz into the game making his Tigers’ debut. The wheels unfortunately fell off pretty much completely here, especially with Rogers and Misiewicz not knowing each other at all, and it showed. Seager doubled to score Semien, and Lowe singled to score Seager. Then Garcia hit a two-run home run. Ouch. Heim singled, but thankfully he was the last.
The Tigers very quickly went down in order in the top of the ninth.
Final: Rangers 8, Tigers 3