ARLINGTON, Texas — The middle road series in this landmine-filled stretch of 17 games in 17 days for the Texas Rangers continues with a trip up north to Michigan to face the Detroit Tigers. The Rangers can count themselves as lucky that no team in their division is enjoying early success, which means the injury-weathered champs still maintain a lead in the AL West.
The Tigers, however, are off to a nice early start but are still only third in a surprisingly competent AL Central. The Central features a surging, young Kansas City Royals team at the top of the mountain in the season’s first month, with Detroit trailing by a game and the Cleveland Guardians also sporting one of the AL’s best records.
On paper, the Tigers have all the makings of a handful of not-yet-household young players that could help propel them into the postseason conversation; they’ll need consistent productivity, however.
Texas Rangers (8-8, 1st Place AL West) @ Detroit Tigers (9-6, 3rd Place AL Central)
Previously, for Detroit…
The Tigers are coming off a four-game set against division rival Minnesota; one of which was a doubleheader, after Thursday’s game was rained out. While they won the opener, they lost both games of the twin-bill and found their bullpen taxed on their way to a four-game split. They did manage to win the finale on Sunday to keep the Twins below .500.
Despite trailing for the entire game, the Tigers rode some aggressive baserunning to score four in the eighth to earn their ninth win of the young season, which took them until April 25 to accomplish in 2023.
The Tigers are also starting on their trying stretch of 14 games in 14 days. With that in mind, unlike Texas, their relievers are one of their strongest assets, with the bullpen owning six of the club’s eight wins. The relief corps is sporting a 1.95 ERA across 55.1 innings. Jason Foley has saved all four of his opportunities for the Tigers and has yet to allow a run.
The other strong part of Detroit’s game has been their defense. The Tigers have worked hard in the offseason to strengthen their ability to take care of the baseball, and they went from being in the bottom third of the Majors in Outs Above Average to leading the pack so far this season.
Defense and pitching tend to go hand-in-hand, so it’s no wonder that a strong bullpen also has a strong defense behind it.
Offensively, Detroit brought on veteran bats Mark Canha and Gio Urshela to supplement developing players such as Riley Greene, Spencer Torkelson, and even Javy Baez. Baez, who has been mired in a slump to start the season, kick-started the Tiger’s four-run rally on Sunday with a homer.
The Tigers have shown they’re a little old school in their ways this season. Behind former Astros’ manager A.J. Hinch, Detroit has been winning with defense, small ball, and some lockdown relief pitching.
What to watch for
● Game 17, 5:40PM CT - RHP Michael Lorenzen (9-9, 4.18 ERA, 111 K in 2023) vs. RHP Reese Olson (0-1, 5.40 ERA)
● Game 18, 12:10 PM CT - RHP Jon Gray (0-1, 4.38 ERA) vs. RHP Casey Mize (0-0, 4.82 ERA)
● Game 19, 12:10 PM CT - RHP Dane Dunning (2-1, 4.50 ERA) vs. LHP Tarik Skubal (2-0, 2.08 ERA)
● Game 20, 12:10 PM CT - LHP Andrew Heaney (0-2, 6.75 ERA) vs. RHP Kenta Maeda (0-1, 6.00 ERA)
Before Sunday’s finale against the Astros, the Rangers moved Cody Bradford to the Injured List with a lower back strain. In Bradford’s stead, former first-round pick Cole Winn was called up to make his MLB debut, but it will be late-Spring signee Michael Lorenzen who will join the rotation in Bradford’s spot to make his season debut against one of his old teams.
Lorenzen will be on a familiar mound at Comerica Park, having spent the first half of 2023 with Detroit. In that time, he made 18 starts, totaling 105.2 innings and amassing a 3.58 ERA with a 1.098 WHIP in a year that marked his first All-Star team nod.
Lorenzen’s season cratered after being traded from Detroit to Philadelphia, though he did throw a no-hitter with the Phillies. In 11 starts for Philadelphia, Lorenzen racked up a 5.51 ERA and 1.458 WHIP.
The 32-year-old had been holding out for a multi-year deal as a free agent over the winter, but that never materialized and landed with the Rangers after Texas opted not to pursue Jordan Montgomery after the left-hander’s legendary run in October.
Lorenzen had been on the IL to start the season, but that was only because he didn’t get a full regimen of Spring Training workouts and needed time to ramp up to a starter’s load. Lorenzen signed with Texas with a promise that he’d be in the rotation, so the delay in joining the club was not a surprise. Opposing Lorenzen will be 24-year-old right-hander Reese Olson. Olson would surely like a bounce-back performance after only going 4 ⅓ innings and giving up six runs against Pittsburgh last week.
The rest of the Rangers’ rotation is a bit up in the air, especially now. If the rest of the week shakes out like how the rotation had previously been ordered, Jon Gray would get the start on Tuesday, Dane Dunning on Wednesday, and Andrew Heaney on Thursday but all of those slots are still listed as TBD by Texas at the moment.
Heaney in particular did not have the rebound performance that was hoped for on Saturday at Houston. While he only gave up two runs, he wasn’t able to make it out of the 4th inning for a second consecutive start and hasn’t reached the fifth inning in any of his three outings so far.
Manager Bruce Bochy, upon announcing Bradford’s move to the IL, mentioned the possibility of a spot starter, citing Jack Leiter being a likely candidate. That’s likely not a great omen for Heaney, who exercised a player option to stay with Texas after being relegated to long relief by the end of last season.
For the three-day games of this set, the Tigers will send the returning Casey Mize, ace Tarik Skubal, and veteran Kenta Maeda to the hill. Mize, who last pitched in the majors in 2022, is making his third start since returning to the team. The former first overall pick in 2018 has given up five total runs in 9 ⅓ innings over his first two starts of the year, but for the Tigers, and for Mize, just having him back on the mound can be counted as a triumph.
Skubal, meanwhile, an up-and-coming fastball-changeup lefty, is coming off a very strong outing against the Twins, keeping Minnesota scoreless for five innings while allowing just two hits. Kenta Maeda, the former Dodger and Twin, had a rough season debut against the Chicago White Sox, giving up six runs in 3 ⅓ innings, but turned in a quality start against his former club on Saturday, giving up just one earned run in six innings.
The Rangers can certainly outslug Detroit, and their defense should be on par with the Tigers. But Detroit has the advantage in bullpen arms and pushing runs across the board via small ball.
Mired in one of the most difficult stretches that the schedule-makers conjured for them this season, and with the injury report filling up, it would do Texas some good to have a few bounces go their way at Comerica Park and to receive a few good pitching performances from whoever ends up taking the ball this week.
Do you think the Rangers will work through their injuries this week in Detroit? Share your thoughts with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.