The Detroit Tigers’ 8-6 extra-inning loss Monday to the A.L. West-leading Texas Rangers brought good and bad news.
Nelson Cruz hit a two-run-shot in the top of the 14th inning to give the Rangers a five-game lead over the Los Angeles Angels, and ended the Rangers’ 11-game losing streak at Comerica Park. That’s the good news—for the Rangers.
Detroit is now two back of the red-hot Chicago White Sox in the A.L. Central. That’s great news—for the Sox.
The bad news for Detroit is third baseman Brandon Inge will be out 4-6 weeks with a non-disclosed fracture in his left hand from what looked to be a breaking ball from Rangers pitcher Scott Feldman.
But the bad news doesn’t end there.
Brennan Boesch’s single with one out in the bottom of the 10th loaded the bases, and set the table for Carlos Guillen to drive in the game-winning run. Unfortunately for Guillen, he hit into a 6-4-3 double play, squandering a golden opportunity.
Or, maybe it was Johnny Damon who failed to seize the day by not heading home on Boesch’s single. Damon had two on in the bottom of the 12th and grounded out to short—another blown chance to put the pesky Rangers to rest.
However, Damon extended his hitting-streak to 10 games, which is the fourth-longest active streak, with an RBI-single in the eighth inning that scored Ramon Santiago and tied the game 6-6.
The good news is that the Tigers showed they could go head-to-head with an elite team after the All-Star Break—a break that left the Tigers broken. Even if it did take over four hours to do so.
Miguel Cabrera continued his Triple-Crown-esque season by launching two solo home runs off Feldman—one in the third, and one in the fifth—that were both pulled to left field. He also added three RBI. Had Cabrera avoided hitting two rockets into center, he would have had four round-trippers.
Cabrera is second among big-leaguers with 24 home runs, and first with 81 RBI.
Magglio Ordonez followed suit, and duplicated Cabrera’s swing in the fifth to tie the game 5-5. Ordonez is hitting a shade over .300, has 12 home runs on the year, and has driven-in 58 runs.
Rookie sensation Austin Jackson continues to amaze onlookers, not only with his glove, but with his bat. Jackson recorded his 100th hit, which is among league leaders, and tops for A.L. rookies.
However, Jackson did have two miscues in the field. He appeared to corral a shoe-lace high fly-ball in the sixth inning, but it got away. Then, he barely missed the Rangers’ heavy-hitter Vlad Guerrero’s pop-fly in the bottom of the ninth.
The Tigers were swept last weekend in a four-game series by the A.L. Central bottom-dwelling Cleveland Indians, in a set that saw just eight Detroit runs. For some, the losses brought up late-season choke talk.
Hopefully, for the Tigers’ sake, the Indians will do them a favor by handling the Minnesota Twins this week.
But with the milestones achieved, or those being approached, Tigers manager Jim Leyland is forced to make some tough decisions with limited options at his disposal.
Either Don Kelly or Ryan Raburn will have to man the hot corner in Inge’s absence.
Both have had issues with their gloves. Raburn’s now-notorious performance last year in Game 163 against the Twins has Tigers fans less than confident in regards to Raburn’s ability to be counted on.
Kelly is still young, and has shown flashes of both sides of the coin when it comes to fielding.
Texas’ Tommy Hunter (6-0) will face Detroit’s Armando Galarraga (3-2), who is fresh off a rehab assignment with the Toledo Mud Hens, at 7:05 p.m. Tuesday at Comerica Park.
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