Detroit Tigers crush Jack Leiter's fastball but missed tag leads to 9-7 loss to Rangers

The Detroit Tigers planned for fastballs from Texas Rangers right-hander Jack Leiter in his MLB debut.

They crushed fastballs for five extra-base hits.

The Tigers spoiled Leiter's first game in the big leagues with seven runs as part of two comebacks throughout the early innings, but the Tigers still ended up losing to the Rangers, 9-7, in Thursday's finale of a four-game series at Comerica Park.

The reigning World Series champions grabbed the lead for the third and final time in the eighth inning. The game-winning run scored as a result of the Tigers' third and final error on a missed tag by third baseman Gio Urshela during a key rundown.

"That was not really a mistake," manager A.J. Hinch said of the rundown. "We made plenty of mistakes today, but that wasn't one of them. That was a baseball, athletic play that didn't go our way."

The Tigers (10-9) dropped three of four games in the series.

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Right-hander Kenta Maeda, who owns a 7.64 ERA through four starts, put the Tigers in a bad situation by surrendering six runs (five earned runs) on seven hits and two walks with two strikeouts across 2⅔ innings, throwing 63 pitches. He gave up three home runs to the Rangers (11-9), including a leadoff homer to Marcus Semien on an 89.4 mph fastball in the first inning.

Maeda did not command his fastball.

He has given up seven homers in 17⅔ innings.

"I don't think I had the feel for my pitches from the get-go," Maeda said in Japanese, interpreted by Dai Sekizaki. "That lingered throughout my outing. ... Overall, all of my pitches weren't competitive today."

But the Tigers took a tie game into the later innings with seven runs against Leiter, making his MLB debut. He gave up seven runs on eight hits and three walks with three strikeouts over 3⅔ innings, throwing 85 pitches.

A bevy of batters — including shortstop Javier Báez and first baseman Spencer Torkelson — slugged Leiter's elite fastball, which generated just five whiffs on 24 swings. The Tigers had a 99.2 mph average exit velocity on 11 balls in play against the fastball.

"We had a pretty good game plan," Hinch said. "We went out and executed it."

Tag, you're not it

In the eighth inning, Urshela failed to tag Leody Taveras during a crucial rundown.

Semien hit the ball to Báez, who tossed it to second baseman Colt Keith, who ran toward Taveras before dumping the ball to Urshela, who was charged with a missed-tag error.

"The ball went this way," Urshela said. "He went that way."

Taveras blocked the throwing lane and forced Keith to throw the ball to Urshela's arm side. Urshela had to reach his glove across his body to catch the ball, then come all the way back across to apply the tag, but by that point, Taveras snuck unearth the tag. Taveras tripped Urshela after avoiding the tag and scampered to third base safely.

"Pretty athletic play," Hinch said. "We got him going in the right way. Javy made the right read, Colt ran him, Gio closed the gap, and when he got him, Taveras made a great play."

After that, the Rangers had runners on the corners with one out.

Taveras scored easily from third base for an 8-7 lead on right-handed reliever Shelby Miller's next pitch, resulting in a fielder's choice.

On that play, Torkelson fielded the ball with a diving stop to his right of first base, but instead of making a risky throw home to catcher Carson Kelly, he tried to get the runner advancing to second base. He got caught in between his two options, and his throw to second base was off target.

To keep the game close, the Tigers needed a boost from right-handed reliever Alex Lange. Lange, who has walked too many batters over the past year, inherited the bases loaded with one out in the seventh inning after replacing left-handed reliever Tyler Holton.

Lange struck out back-to-back batters.

"The punch outs," Hinch said. "It's easy to say that after he does it, but the one question was his command, is he going to throw strikes? When he does, he's hard to hit. Back against the wall, he came in and executed. He's going to get soft contact or swing and miss. Both of those could have helped us."

Both Wyatt Langford and Jonah Heim whiffed at curveballs below the strike zone.

The Rangers took a 9-7 lead with Taveras' RBI single off left-handed reliever Andrew Chafin in the ninth inning.

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Kenta Maeda struggles again

The third pitch of the game foreshadowed Maeda's fourth start.

Semien hit a fastball for a solo home run to left-center field in the first inning, and in the second inning, Langford hit a first-pitch slider for an RBI double and Heim hit a third-pitch splitter for a two-run home run. The Rangers controlled a 4-0 lead before making their fourth out of the game.

"Just starting with the mechanics," said Maeda, whose fastball averaged 89 mph. "Once that's been cleaned up, I think the velocity and command, just the overall pitching in general seems off, so I think there are a lot of things for me to improve."

The Rangers chased Maeda in the third inning by continuing to pile on the hard hits.

Adolis García launched a solo home run off a splitter for a 5-4 lead in the third. Maeda nearly escaped the third, but the Rangers challenged an inning-ending groundout. The challenge reversed the call on the field to make it 6-4 and keep the inning alive. Keith fumbled the ball after it deflected off the mound, which led to a late throw to first base, so he was charged with an error.

That's when the Tigers pulled Maeda.

"I don't think he had a reliable pitch that he could go to when he needed to," Hinch said. "He just started mixing and matching and trying to get through his outing. I got him out of there as things were starting to wobble again, which puts us in a tough spot. In order to keep the game where it was and give us a chance, I thought it was necessary, and as it turned out, we had every chance to win."

Right-handed reliever Alex Faedo finished the third inning and completed 2⅓ innings, allowing an unearned run that stemmed from Matt Vierling's fielding error in center field and created a 7-4 deficit. Vierling fumbled the throw to the cutoff man and let Semien take third base on a double, and Semien later scored on a sacrifice fly.

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Jack Leiter's first day

The Tigers bailed out Maeda with seven runs off Leiter.

Beating up on the rookie began in the second inning, when Báez — who hasn't been on time for fastballs in more than a year — drilled a down-and-in 96.4 mph fastball to the left-field corner for an RBI double. He hit the heater with a 108.8 mph exit velocity.

"That's one key," Báez said. "Hitting the ball in the zone and being on time with the fastball. The whole series, they've been pitching me first-pitch fastballs, so I made that adjustment and I was ready for it."

Riley Greene copied Báez by hammering a down-and-in 95.9 mph fastball to right-center field for an RBI triple. He hit the fastball with a 104.2 mph exit velocity.

Mark Canha tied the game, 4-4, with an RBI single off Leiter's slider to complete the four-run second inning.

In the fourth inning, Taveras — the Rangers' center fielder — misplayed a 404-foot fly ball from Kerry Carpenter with two outs. He should've made the catch, but the ball bounced at the warning track. Carpenter pulled into third base with a two-run triple, cutting the deficit to 7-6.

Torkelson tied the game, 7-7, by punishing Leiter's middle-middle 97 mph fastball for an RBI double to left-center.

"We found the right balance of aggressiveness against him," Hinch said, "but also patience to make him come inside the strike zone. I thought Tork delivered the knockout punch, the shower ball to get him out of the game. It really got us back in the game, literally."

Báez turned on another fastball — a 95.4 mph sinker from right-handed reliever Jose Ureña — for another double to the left-field corner in the fifth inning, but the Tigers stranded him. He hit that one with a 109.1 mph exit velocity, similar to his hard-hit double off Leiter.

Báez has one strikeout in his past 23 plate appearances.

"I'm making adjustments," Báez said. "I don't know what to say. I'm just trying to do my timing and my swing, and if I do my timing and my swing and my plan, and I trust it, I just got to see the ball. It doesn't matter who's on the mound."

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers betrayed by missed tag in loss to Texas Rangers