'We didn't play clean': Tigers can't overcome three errors in loss to Rangers

Detroit — They don't stop. They don't always win, but they don't stop.

The Tigers, who came into the game Wednesday with six come-from-behind wins (out of nine), fought out of a 4-1 deficit to take a tie game into the ninth.

In the end, though, they couldn't overcome three errors. The Texas Rangers, with a pinch-hit RBI double in the top of the ninth by Josh Smith, beat the Tigers, 5-4, at Comerica Park.

"We didn't play clean, which is obvious but that's not always recognizable on the scoreboard with errors," manager AJ Hinch said. "Today it was. And they took advantage of every error. They didn't let us get away with it. That was the difference. They scored every time we made a mistake and in a one-run game, everything matters."

With one out in the top of the ninth against reliever Shelby Miller, Ezequiel Duran lined a ball off the glove of diving first baseman Spencer Torkelson. Next hitter, Evan Carter, hit a routine ground ball at the bag at first that Torkelson misplayed. Smith followed with a gap double to right-center.

"You've got to take care of the ball," Torkelson said. "Definitely the good teams, the great teams, they capitalize on mistakes and that's exactly what they did. On my error, I was attacking the ball. I just didn't make the play."

BOX SCORE: Rangers 5, Tigers 4

Kerry Carpenter started the Tigers' scoring in the third against Rangers starter Dan Dunning, launching a 424-foot homer to right-center to tie the game 1-1.

Then, down 4-1, they scored single runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth to draw even.

Torkelson chased Dunning with a double to lead off the sixth inning and scored on an errant, two-out throw by shortstop Corey Seager. In the seventh, Parker Meadows, in an 0-for-18 skid and just 2-for-38 on the season, blasted his first home run of the season, 399-feet to right-center off right-handed reliever Austin Pruitt.

"Parker drove the ball today and he walked," Hinch said. "He controlled his at-bats, which was good. The home run was good for him and for us. The walk was a good sign that he's starting to zone the ball in a little more...It was nice to see him contribute. He needed that for his own confidence."

In the eighth, against veteran David Robertson, Javier Báez came through with a two-out single to score Matt Vierling from second and tie the game 4-4. Vierling reached on a one-out single.

"A couple of times in this game we were at the breaking point but we were able to limit damage," Hinch said. "But we had a chance to win that game, too. It was still a winnable game despite the errors and miscues."

In the innings between the first and sixth, Tigers' lefty starter Tarik Skubal was dominant.

In the first and sixth, though, things got messy. Again, it was errors and free bases that mucked things up.

Skubal, who ended up allowing four runs (two earned) in 6.1 innings with six strikeouts, created his own mess in the first.

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Leadoff hitter Marcus Semien hit a shot up the middle that knocked Skubal’s glove off. He got to it quickly but lollipopped his throw to first base.

"That was self-inflicted, right?" Skubal said. "Second pitch of the game and I don't play catch. Kind of cost us and put us in a hole early."

Torkelson came off the bag to catch it and couldn’t get back to the bag ahead of Semien.

"I wanted to make sure I got the ball first," Torkelson said. "If I tried to stay on the base, the ball goes down the right field line and he's standing on second."

Seager, a left-handed pull hitter, followed with an opposite-field punch shot through the left side of the infield.

After Skubal walked Jonah Heim on four pitches, Adolis Garcia hit a sacrifice fly to center.

Then things settled in. Skubal put down 14 of the next 15 hitters, racking up five strikeouts and four ground-ball outs.

It was déjà vu in the sixth. Second baseman Colt Keith misplayed Semien’s ground ball (E-4) and Seager again punched an opposite-field single. With one out, Garcia launched a first-pitch changeup off the top of the wall in right-center, RBI double.

The Tigers, as they have in this situation all year, moved their infield in with runners at second and third and one out. Heim foiled the strategy when his soft liner (exit velocity, 58 mph) barely got over the lunging Keith. Two more runs scored and the Tigers trailed, 4-1.

"The one pitch I want back is the one to Heim," Skubal said. "The one to Adolis, yeah it might have been elevated, but whatever. The 0-2 pitch to Heim has to be better."

The two sloppy innings aside, this might have been Skubal's most-impressive outing of the season. Hinch certainly thought so.

"I thought he was really good mixing his pitches," Hinch said. "Everybody has a book on him and they're going to go on one of two speeds. But he's becoming more unpredictable with spin. At least he was today. This was arguably his best mix of the season."

Facing eight right-handed hitters, Skubal sequenced all five of his pitches, though he still leaned on his sinker and changeup. He got 11 of his 13 swings and misses with those two pitches. He also threw 22 first-pitch strikes to the 27 hitters he faced.

Throwing a season-high 10 knuckle-curves was a game-changer, especially with how the Rangers were hunting changeups early.

"Early and often," Skubal said. "They put some good swings on some changeups and you could kind of tell that was their game plan, to take away that pitch. Rog (catcher Jake Rogers) had a great feel back there and we started flipping that curve in there and we started to play the fast-slow game a little more than just fastball-changeup."

Rogers has long advocated for Skubal's curveball.

"I think it's a great pitch," he said. "I think we should use it more often. He had a good feel for it today and I think, especially for some of their hitters, it kept them off the slider and changeup. Going in they knew the changeup was his best pitch so I felt like that curveball was very useful."

Skubal hates the scoreboard line, especially the one that read Rangers 5, Tigers 4, but he came out of the game hungry to get to his next start.

"I think, numbers aside, stat-line aside, I felt like this was the best I got down the mound this year," he said. "Obviously, we lost and that's not good. But I'm pretty confident going into the next one because I felt pretty good today."

The last out was recorded just minutes before thunderstorms doused the area. The small crowd, announced at 10,259, had already ducked under the stands for cover during the bottom of the ninth.

chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com

@cmccosky