Tigers use 'tag-team' approach to rally late in 4-2 victory over Rangers

Detroit — Tough game.

On yet another day when the Tigers struggled mightily to produce any kind of offense, Kerry Carpenter slammed a 414-foot triple in the second inning and a game-tying RBI double off the left-field wall in the sixth. But when his next turn to bat came around in the eighth, manager AJ Hinch called him back to the dugout and sent up Matt Vierling to pinch-hit.

"I trust Vierling," Carpenter said. "Everybody trusts Vierling. And we trust AJ with the lineup. Vierling tends to get it done. So, I love it."

Vierling and Gio Urshela, both right-handed hitters, slapped opposite-field singles to right field off lefty reliever Jacob Latz and the Tigers broke a 2-2 tie and beat the Texas Rangers 4-2 before a small crowd of 10,377 at Comerica Park on Tuesday.

BOX SCORE: Tigers 4, Rangers 2

"We all are accepting our roles well," Carpenter said. "That's the way it should be. If we can tag-team a game, then that's good. Hey, we love going three for four out of the four hole."

This was the fourth game this season the Tigers won after trailing in the sixth, seventh or eighth inning. They are 7-2 in games decided by one or two runs. And they are doing that despite some severe offensive struggles.

"We were all as a team watching the Red Wings last night," Hinch said of the Wings' dramatic overtime win against Montreal. "So we took a page out of their playbook and waited until the very end and made everyone nervous and then came through with the win.

"It's a good time to be in Detroit."

Playing all 27 outs is becoming more than a cliche. It's becoming a character trait.

"Sometimes you wish you could win big every now and then," joked starting pitcher Casey Mize, who in his first start at Comerica Park since April 9, 2022 allowed just two runs in six innings. "But it's all the emotions of baseball and we've experienced them a lot. That's what makes it fun. Coming out on this side of it is good.

"In the DNA of good teams, winning close games is important. We're doing a good job of that."

The tag-team approach in the eighth came about because Rangers' manager Bruce Bochy wanted no part of seeing lefty-swinging Carpenter bat against right-handed reliever and former Tiger Jose Urena, even though Urena had struck out three in 1.2 innings.

So with two outs and Zach McKinstry on first base, Bochy summoned the only lefty in his bullpen — Latz.

Hinch didn't hesitate to send up Vierling.

"It's how everyone expects us to play," Hinch said. "There's not a lot of secrets. It's just a matter of the situation developing and having guys ready. The situation dictates what to do."

Even if it means taking the bat out of Carpenter's hands on a day when he's hit 800-feet worth of extra-base hits and accounted for two of your team's three hits at that point.

"I know how well he's swung the bat," Hinch said. "He's going to get his chances against lefties. I know nobody believes it because I keep hitting for him. But it's hard to leave Vierling on the bench when he can create some havoc. And Gio is right there behind him and Wenceel Perez hitting right-handed.

"We had a run of matchups we really liked and we pieced together an inning."

Vierling singled to right field, sending McKinstry to third. Urshela followed, hitting a ball almost in the exact same spot to right field scoring the go-ahead run. And with Perez at the plate, Latz uncorked a wild pitch allowing Vierling to score from third.

"One advantage we had going in was having a runner at first," Hinch said. "There was a huge hole (on the right side) and we had two guys who can maneuver the bat which helped them stay on (Latz's) changeup. You don't need a homer to score. That's not something we're going to rely on heavily.

"We needed to put the ball in play and create opportunities. The first-and-third (after Vierling's hit) opened up the hole for Gio and he has the best bat control of anyone on our team. He directed a ball through there."

Lefty reliever Andrew Chafin, who had pitched a clean eighth inning with a pair of strikeouts, got the first out of the ninth, punching out Evan Carter. Hinch then went to Jason Foley, who is emerging as the club's closer.

Foley didn't make it easy on himself. He gave up a single and walk and with two outs had to deal with the ever-dangerous Adolis Garcia, who was sent up to pinch-hit. Foley got him to fly out to center, earning his fifth save.

"We never go into the eighth inning down thinking we're going to lose," Carpenter said. "We always think we're going to win no matter who we are facing."

With the offense sputtering, the margin for error is razor thin for the Tigers right now and the burden falls on the pitching to hold the game close. Mize, like Reese Olson did Monday night, carried that burden without buckling. He allowed just five singles and struck out six. Four of the hits were bunched in a two-run fifth inning.

"Yeah, I did some good things and I made some mistakes and got singled to death in the fifth," Mize said. "But I did some things that we built upon from last time out and left the game tied. I always prefer to leave with a lead, but leaving it tied, I feel good about our bullpen against anybody and that showed today."

Mize deftly mixed sliders, splitters and knuckle-curves off a four-seam fastball that averaged 94.7 mph and hit 97 mph. He threw first-pitch strikes to 16 of 23 hitters and worked ahead through most of his outing.

"Casey is going to tell you he wasn't perfect but he did his part," Hinch said. "In reality, he did everything against that lineup that we could've asked and he held strong until the end."

The Tigers, despite scoring the fifth fewest runs in the American League, having the fifth lowest batting average and third lowest OPS, are 10-7.

"We'll take it," Carpenter said.

chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com

@cmccosky