ARLINGTON, Texas _ Justin Verlander's second-half surge slowed, the Detroit Tigers offense was once again tamed and the team dropped its third game in a row on Tuesday night at Globe Life Park.
Verlander was bitten by three home run balls. The Tigers totaled four runs. Insult was added late when Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor scored when left-handed reliever Daniel Stumpf balked. The Tigers lost to the Rangers, 10-4.
It's the team's ninth loss in the past 11 games. They are 13 games below the .500 mark at 53-66.
Verlander started out strong but squandered a one-run lead in the third inning on a Robinson Chirinos solo home run to left-center field. He then took a pair of big blows in the fourth after giving up the lead on a bloop single to Nomar Mazara: First, Joey Gallo hit a mammoth, 459-foot home run into the second deck in right-center field for two runs. Then, long-time nemesis Mike Napoli went back-to-back with a homer into the left-center field seats.
Entering the game, Verlander had posted a 1.71 ERA in his past five starts. He had allowed five homers in six July starts but has now allowed five in three August starts. It wasn't all terrible for the Tigers' ace: Outside of the long balls, he struck out eight batters and walked none. Over six innings, he allowed eight hits. It marked his first start since July 2 in which he allowed more than three earned runs.
Led by righty A.J. Griffin, the Texas pitching staff kept the Tigers without a real threat. The Tigers opened the scoring when John Hicks and Jose Iglesias hit doubles in the second inning. They tacked on two runs in the seventh on a pair of RBI groundouts from Alex Presley and Jose Iglesias, respectively.
But in the bottom half of the inning, Odor _ who has killed the Tigers with his speed in the first two games of the series _ did so again. He drew a walk against rookie righty Joe Jimenez before stealing second base and advancing to third when the errant throw trickled past Ian Kinsler. With two outs, Stumpf relieved Jimenez for a lefty-on-lefty match-up with Shin-Soo Choo but lost track of Odor at third base. Odor scampered down the third-base line before Stumpf reacted and essentially stole home plate.
Stumpf was called for a balk on the play, though Odor clearly beat the throw. The Rangers added more insurance against righty Warwick Saupold in the bottom of the eighth inning when Adrian Beltre hit an RBI double, Napoli hit a two-run single and Choo hit an infield single.
Victor Martinez homered to lead off the ninth off ex-Tiger Jason Grilli.
