Jonah Heim homered and drove in three runs, Jon Gray pitched seven strong innings and the visiting Texas Rangers silenced the punchless Detroit Tigers 7-0 on Friday night.
Gray limited the Tigers to five hits and no walks while striking out six. Brett Martin pitched the eighth inning and Garrett Richards finished up as the Rangers improved to 2-0 in the four-game series.
Corey Seager had two hits and scored two runs for Texas, while Adolis Garcia drove in two runs and scored another. Marcus Semien reached base three times and scored a run, and Leody Taveras had two hits.
Detroit starter Tarik Skubal gave up five runs and eight hits in five innings. He fanned four and walked two. Willi Castro collected two of the Tigers’ five hits.
The Tigers lost their sixth straight game, all at home. They have been shutout 10 times this season and five times this month.
Semien led off the game with a walk and moved to second on Seager’s single. Garcia bounced a double down the left field line to score Semien, and Heim followed with another in the same area to bring home Seager and Garcia for a 3-0 lead.
Texas scored another run in the third when Seager led off with a double and scored on Nathaniel Lowe’s two-out double.
Heim hit a one-out home run in the fifth, his eighth of the season, off Skubal to make it 5-0.
Texas extended its lead to 7-0 in the sixth. Ezequiel Duran, who had a three-run triple in the Rangers’ 3-1 win over Detroit on Thursday, reached on an infield single. Reliever Will Vest’s error allowed Duran to advance to second, and Charlie Culberson followed with an RBI single.
A single and a walk loaded the bases with one out, and Culberson scored on Garcia’s sacrifice fly.
The Tigers had two baserunners in the seventh but their lack of timely hitting continued as Robbie Grossman struck out and Jonathan Schoop flied out to center.
Richards completed the shutout by striking out pinch hitter Kody Clemens.
–Field Level Media