The Detroit Tigers wasted every opportunity.
Old friend Michael Lorenzen, a veteran right-hander who pitched for the Tigers last season, started for the Texas Rangers in Monday’s opener of a four-game series at Comerica Park.
He wasn’t sharp in his first start of the season, but that didn’t matter because the Tigers failed to get the big hit in a 1-0 loss to the Rangers.
The Tigers (9-7) grounded into three double plays through the first five innings, including a pair of inning-ending double plays from Mark Canha.
Lorenzen threw five scoreless innings despite walking five and giving up three hits.
“I don’t think it was a pitch selection issue,” Canha said. “It wasn’t like we swung at bad pitches. We just didn’t hit the ball in the air, and that’s the name of the game these days.”
The lack of offense was especially frustrating because right-hander Reese Olson pitched into the seventh inning for just the third time in his 21-start career.
He allowed one run on six hits and one walk with eight strikeouts over 6⅓ innings, but the Tigers couldn’t back him up by scoring runs.
In the third, Canha grounded into an inning-ending double play after Riley Greene’s walk.
In the fourth, Matt Vierling grounded into a double play after walks from Spencer Torkelson and Kerry Carpenter.
In the fifth, Canha grounded into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded, after singles from Gio Urshela and Javier Báez and another walk from Greene.
“It’s early in the season,” said Canha, who leads the Tigers with an .817 OPS in 16 games.
“I have full confidence that the next time that situation comes up, I’m going to hit the ball in the air. I’m going to devote the next week to figuring out how to do that better.”
