Tigers 3, Rangers 0

Starter Alfredo Simon tossed the best game of his career with a complete game one hitter that upped his record to 11-7.

He had the Philadelphia Phillies fooled for five years.

Texas averaged 5.9 runs while winning six of its previous seven, but Rougned Odor’s double in the fifth was all it could muster Thursday as it dropped a fourth straight meeting.

Right-hander Alfredo Simon will be starting for the Tigers on Thursday.

“That pretty much summed up the night”, Moreland said. “He wasn’t going to give in”. That’s it. Desperately needed and a welcome sight to see from Simon. Other than that, Texas reached twice on walks and twice on errors, but were otherwise dominated by Simon.

That was it from an offense that entered batting. “What I really liked is the pace of his game”.

The Rangers will start 24-year-old left-hander Martin Perez, who has pitched well over his last three starts.

Miguel Cabrera was intentionally walked for the 14th time this season, which leads the American League and is second in all of baseball. “That’s how you learn. We just come back tomorrow and try again”.

DETROIT FIRST: Four consecutive batters reached with two outs, with Nick Castellanos driving in a run with a single.

Then in the fifth inning, Miguel Cabrera decided to produce the runs instead of scoring them this time, hitting a single to center and scoring former Ranger Ian Kinsler.

Though his command was off throughout the five inning he pitched, Perez did a good job at minimizing the damage. “He fell behind a number of guys and worked himself into some jams”. “I did a lot of work this offseason to get myself and my body in position to be able to pitch well. When we did barrel it, it was hit right at somebody”.

Perez (1-2, 5.29 ERA) has strung together three quality starts allowing a total of five earned runs in 20.1 innings.

“There’s still a ways to go for him to lock into the strike zone and a repeatable delivery coming off the surgery”, Banister said.

Texas entered play 1½ games behind the Los Angeles Angels for the second wild-card spot, while the Tigers were three games further back. While it was nothing close to their blowout win on Wednesday night, Detroit got significant contribution from Castellanos and key knocks from Cabrera and Victor Martinez.