Tigers' struggling bullpen allows late run in loss to Rangers
· Yahoo Sports
Detroit — A middle-innings rally wasn’t enough as starting pitcher Jack Flaherty struggled again for the Tigers and Detroit dropped a series opener, 5-4, to Texas on Friday evening at Comerica Park.
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The Tigers had put together a four-run rally across the fourth and fifth innings, only to give up a run in the top of the eighth inning as the ultimate dagger.
And all it took was two sharp hits into left field, a double off the bat of Jake Berger, who then scored when Alejandro Osuna rocketed another double, this one past a diving Hao-Yu Lee at third base.
Lee stood at the edge of the infield grass as received the ball from the outfield, shaking off the discomfort of a dive into the dirt and perhaps frustration at seeing the comeback efforts of recent innings come undone.
Riley ties it up! pic.twitter.com/PyfHFqWKz4
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) May 2, 2026
Flaherty had another rough start, going 3.2 innings with four runs allowed, three walks and five hits to four strikeouts.
What plagued Flaherty on Friday night is what has caused him trouble for much of 2026: Finding control and limiting walks. He recovered well from a pair of singles that pushed across a run in the first inning, opening the second inning with a pair of strikeouts looking, freezing Berger and then Osuna with fastballs before a foul pop up to Dillon Dingler for the third out put the Rangers down in order.
In the top of the third inning, though, Flaherty faltered, starting by giving up a solo home run to Danny Jansen to leadoff the inning. After that no-doubter to left field, Flaherty walked the next three batters to load the bases with no outs. Boos began from the Comerica Park crowd.
Flaherty and the Tigers actually managed to wriggle out with relatively little damage, giving up an RBI single, a sacrifice fly RBI before getting the last two outs. But even that was an adventure, as the infield fly rule gave the Tigers an out on a pop up that Flaherty seemed to lose in the clouds and ended up hitting his glove and landing on the infield.
Flaherty would retire two batters and then give up a single in the fourth inning before handing the ball off to Emmanuel De Jesus
For Flaherty, it’s now seven-straight starts to open 2026 walking multiple batters, with six of those featuring three or more free passes.
And Friday’s performance marks a particularly brutal three-start span. Across his last three starts, Flaherty has thrown nine combined innings, walked 11, struck out 11 and has given up 12 runs.
The Tigers were 0-2 in the first two outings of this stretch of starts. And while a comeback to tie the game on Friday offered hope that things would turn out different, Detroit is now 0-3 in Flaherty's last three starts, though he's only been credited for one of those losses. Burch Smith took the loss for Detroit on Friday night against Texas.
Detroit started its rally in the fourth inning with a leadoff double from Jahmai Jones, poking a ball off the protruding left field fence. He’d hold at second base as Riley Greene reached two batters later on a single that probably should’ve been caught by a retreating infielder for an out, but instead hit the outfield fringe as the Comerica Park crowd erupted.
They got even louder when, after Spencer Torkelson walked to load the bases, Wenceel Perez smacked a single through a hole in the infield to plate two runs with two outs.
Rookie third baseman Hao-Yu Lee followed that up with a bloop single into right field that scored Torkelson from second base with two outs.
Detroit completed the rally the next inning, as Kerry Carpenter pinch hit for Jones and worked a walk. He’d advance to second base on a wild pitch and scoot to third when Dillon Dingler dropped a single into the gap between the left and center fielders.
And luck must’ve been on Greene’s side, because after his gift of an earlier single, he shattered his bat in a fortuitous manner.
The excess lumber and ball both reached the right side of the infield, and Carpenter scored easily from third, tying the game, 4-4, as the lack of pace on the ball helped Greene beat a double play turn at first base.
The comeback efforts were needed after another rough go for Flaherty on the mound.
And while it provided momentary hope that Detroit could sneak from behind to steal a win from the Rangers, the final parts of the comeback never materialized.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Detroit Tigers lose opener to Texas Rangers at Comerica Park