| Special to The Detroit News
Tigers’ Dillon Dingler, Kevin McGonigle and Riley Greene were named All-Stars for the game on July 14 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
Tigers’ Dillon Dingler, Kevin McGonigle and Riley Greene were named All-Stars for the game on July 14 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
The Tigers got to celebrate this Fourth of July holiday as a happy bunch, as they shut out the Rangers en route to a 3-0 victory in Arlington, Texas.
The Tigers have won four out of their last five games against teams at the top of their respective division and they knocked the Rangers out of first place in the AL West.
After allowing 10 runs in Thursday’s series-opening loss, the Tigers needed a bounce-back performance on the mound. Jack Flaherty had a rough stretch, starting the season with an 0-7 record as a starting pitcher. But ever since returning from the IL, he’s been as sharp as ever.
First there was the Astros’ game on June 28, where he struck out nine batters and only allowed two hits and no runs even though the Tigers would eventually lose that game in extras.
But Saturday, he struck out five, allowed three hits and pitched 5.2 innings of scoreless ball, part of another dominant outing to get his second win of the season.
“Jack was awesome today, I would even go back further than that, his three (starts) before going on the IL were really good,” catcher Dillon Dingler said on Detroit SportsNet. “He’s just fine tuning some things we were able to keep them off balance and he pitched really deep in the game and put us in a great position.”
The Rangers didn’t get a runner in scoring position until that sixth inning thanks to a Josh Jung two-out double that knocked Flaherty out of the game. But Tyler Holton entered to face Brandon Ninmo and forced a ground-out to end the inning.
If anyone at Globe Life Field wanted some early fireworks for the Fourth of July, Riley Greene was happy to oblige as his homer stayed fair to right field, bringing home Kerry Carpenter for a two-run homer in the first inning.
It was his 12th homer of the season and his third in the past four games, with Greene finishing 2-for-4 as the only Tiger with multiple hits.
“I think he’s just getting good pitches to hit,” manager AJ Hinch said on Detroit SportsNet. “He’s in every at-bat, they pitch him tough, they’re on the corners, and then when they make a mistake, he’s not missing it.”
Alejandro Osuna misplayed a flyball down the left-field line for an error, allowing Colt Keith and Zach McKinstry to go to third and second base. Ben Malgeri hit a grounder to bring Keith home, and the Tigers loaded the bases, but Carpenter hit a deep fly-out to end the top of the second inning.
BOX SCORE: Tigers 3, Rangers 0
For Rangers’ starter Cal Quantrill, it took him just four pitches to get his first two outs, then it took 34 to get the next four outs as the Tigers built an early 3-0 lead.
Quantrill didn’t allow another hit after the second inning, pitching five innings and allowing just three hits with two strikeouts. While the offense had only three hits against the Rangers’ starter, they capitalized enough on those chances.
However, the Tigers never got another chance to add to their lead, getting just three hits in the next seven innings and none of them went for extra bases. So unlike their last game, they needed a strong relief appearance to take them home.
Hinch said he had something up for Montero, and it came in the seventh inning as Montero entered the mound in a relief appearance. It was his third game coming out of the bullpen this season, and he made it count.
Montero allowed no hits with only one walk in three innings to earn the first regular-season save of his career.
“I knew if he got in the game, in a close game, and he could keep his pitch count down, he was gonna go at least two (innings), and I wasn’t gonna take the ball away from him,” Hinch said.
“He was throwing the ball too well, he was very pitch efficient. We needed three more outs, Keider is as locked in as he’s been as a big leaguer, and he got us to the finish line.”
Montero almost allowed a hit to begin the bottom of the ninth as Jung hit a liner to third base, but Keith made a great grab and got the throw to first in time for the first out. Montero then forced a deep flyout, followed a groundout to end an impressive relief stint.
“Keider is a great pitcher, great human being,” Dingler said. “He’ll do anything for this team, whether it be in the pen, whether it’s starting, you know exactly what you’re going to get, you’re gonna get everything he has, so you know I’m really excited for him.”
Kameron Goodwill is a freelance writer.
