Arlington, Texas — It was announced before the game that Rangers slugger Joey Gallo would participate in the Home Run Derby next week during the All-Star Game festivities.
He chose Wednesday afternoon to start getting loose. Bad timing for Tigers rookie Casey Mize.
Gallo hit a pair of two-seam fastballs from Mize a total of 902 feet.
But baseball is a strange game.
The Tigers, on the strength of four singles that totaled 613 feet combined, scored three runs in the top of the seventh to beat the Rangers, 5-3, and take the series at Globe Life Field.
Go figure.
BOX SCORE: Tigers 5, Rangers 3
The Rangers had been 9-0 on days ace Kyle Gibson started and he was cruising into the seventh until bloop singles by Nomar Mazara and Harold Castro, and a walk to Jake Rogers, knocked him out of the game with one out.
The Rangers brought in lefty Joely Rodriguez to face left-handed hitting Akil Baddoo. Tigers manager AJ Hinch countered with Miguel Cabrera off his bench. Cabrera fought off a two-strike pitch and banged it off Rodriguez’s leg for an infield hit, breaking the 2-2 tie.
Jonathan Schoop followed with an RBI bloop single behind first base that landed right on the chalk line. Robbie Grossman then drew a bases loaded walk to bring in another.
Four hits, none hit harder than 86 mph off the bat (Cabrera’s).
The Tigers are now 4-0-1 in their last five series and are 31-23 since May 8.
Gallo, though, put on a show.
Leading off the second inning, Mize fell behind him 2-0 and tried to guide a 90-mph two-seamer into the strike zone. That ball left Gallo’s bat with an exit velocity of 109 mph and flew 440 feet into the seats in right-center.
With one out in the fourth, Mize threw him three splitters, good ones, and seemed to have him set up on a 2-2 pitch. Catcher Rogers wanted the two-seamer up in the zone, but Mize threw it right down the middle (at 95 mph). That one flew off his bat at 111.6 mph and traveled 462 feet — the longest homer hit at the new Globe Life Field.
Incredible.
That was all the damage against Mize, though, in his second restricted-innings start. He went four innings this time, because he was so efficient in the first three. And other than Gallo’s blasts, he gave up just two other hits and no walks.
He threw 50 pitches and left with the game tied at 2.
The Tigers went ahead 2-1 in the fourth. Jeimer Candelario blasted a 3-1 pitch into the seats in left-center. It was his first home run since May 18, covering 162 plate appearances.
Kyle Funkhouser pitched two scoreless innings to earn the victory and he was the beneficiary of some defensive wizardry by shortstop Zack Short, who made two brilliant plays in the sixth, with the score still tied.
He made a Jose Iglesias-esque, over-the-shoulder catch of a sinking liner by Nate Lowe. After a two-out walk to Adolis Garcia, Short made a diving catch going to his left to take a single away from Gallo.
After Jose Cisnero pitched a scoreless seventh, things got dicey in the eighth. Erasmo Ramirez gave up three straight singles to load the bases with no outs and the meat of the Rangers order coming up.
Hinch called on his All-Star lefty, Gregory Soto. He got Garcia to pop out and he walked Gallo on four pitches — hard to blame in — to force in a run.
But, throwing 98- and 99-mph heat, he struck out John Hicks and Jonah Heim to end the threat.
Soto pitched around a leadoff double in the ninth to earn a six-out save.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky