Greene homers, drives in four as Tigers top Rangers 6‑3
ARLINGTON, Texas (Interstat) — Riley Greene drove in three runs with a home run and a triple, and Casey Mize pitched five effective innings as the Detroit Tigers defeated the Texas Rangers 6-3 on Sunday afternoon at Globe Life Park to win the three-game series.
Mize allowed two runs on five hits with four strikeouts, earning his fourth win of the season. Kumar Rocker took the loss, surrendering three earned runs on five hits over 4 1/3 innings while striking out four. Kenley Jansen worked a scoreless ninth for his 10th save.
Detroit improved to 40-50, while Texas fell to 45-45. The Tigers have won four of their last five games and took two of three from the Rangers this weekend, bouncing back from a 10-4 loss Thursday with a 3-0 shutout on Saturday and Sunday’s victory.
The Rangers struck first in the third inning. With one out, Jake Burger launched his 15th home run of the season to left-center field, giving Texas a 1-0 lead. Mize retired the next two batters to limit the damage.
Detroit answered in the fourth. Kerry Carpenter singled with one out, and Greene followed by crushing a 2-2 pitch over the right-field wall for his 13th homer, putting the Tigers ahead 2-1. Rocker struck out Spencer Torkelson and walked Colt Keith before getting Zach McKinstry to line out, but the damage was done.
The Tigers broke the game open in the fifth. James Outman led off with a soft ground-ball single to first base. Kevin McGonigle followed with a ground-ball single to right, moving Outman to third. Dillon Dingler then lined a single to center, scoring Outman and sending McGonigle to third. Carpenter reached on catcher interference by Elias Diaz, loading the bases. Greene stepped in and tripled to deep center field, clearing the bases and scoring Dingler and Carpenter to make it 5-1. Torkelson walked, but Hao-Yu Lee popped out and McKinstry struck out to end the frame.
Texas got one back in the bottom of the fifth. Nicky Lopez singled off Mize and moved to second when Joc Pederson walked. After Burger popped out on the infield fly rule, Brandon Nimmo lined a single to right field, scoring Lopez and cutting the deficit to 5-2. Ezequiel Duran lined out to left to end the inning.
Detroit added a run in the ninth. With two outs, Matt Vierling tripled to center field. Rangers reliever Peyton Gray intentionally walked Greene, but Torkelson grounded into a force out to end the inning, leaving the score 6-2.
Texas mounted a threat in the eighth. After Burger grounded out and Nimmo lined out, Duran homered to center field, his seventh of the season, making it 6-3. Evan Carter grounded out to end the inning.
Jansen retired the side in order in the ninth, getting Diaz to pop out, Josh Smith to pop out and pinch-hitter Alejandro Osuna to fly out to right to seal the victory.
Greene finished 3 for 4 with a single, home run and triple, driving in three runs and scoring twice. McGonigle had two hits and scored a run. For Texas, Duran was 1 for 4 with a home run and an RBI, and Burger was 1 for 4 with a solo homer. Nimmo had an RBI single.
Rocker worked into the fifth but was lifted after allowing three earned runs. Peyton Gray tossed a scoreless inning with one hit. Robby Ahlstrom faced three batters in the fifth and allowed two earned runs on three hits without recording an out.
Attendance was 27,887. The game lasted 2 hours, 45 minutes.
Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Texas Rangers 7, Detroit Tigers 4. Interstat’s ELO system gave Texas a 55.30 percent probability to win. Detroit was installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus 1.5. The total of 9 runs went under the over/under line of 8.