DETROIT — For the third consecutive evening, the Tigers rode a rookie starter to a victory over the Rangers at Comerica Park. This time, Matt Manning delivered six quality innings in his sixth big league start, carrying a Tigers lead built on three home runs for a 4-2 victory Wednesday.
The Tigers have won six in a row, matching their longest winning streak from last season. They’ll take the field Thursday afternoon with a chance at their first seven-game win streak in five years and their seventh series sweep of three or more games this season. The Tigers swept six such series over the previous three seasons combined.
Detroit has outscored Minnesota and Texas by a 35-7 margin over the six-game stretch since the All-Star break and trailed after only one of the 51 innings. Just as impressive, the Tigers are doing it with an injury-depleted rotation that just lost Spencer Turnbull for the season and has Matthew Boyd and José Ureña on the injured list. Detroit’s current rotation has three rookies with Manning, Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal, all of whom have held down the Rangers offense this series.
Manning, pitching on 11 days of rest after being optioned to Triple-A Toledo following his last start July 9 at Minnesota, gave up RBI doubles to former Tiger John Hicks and David Dahl, but little else. His other hits allowed were a Joey Gallo ground-ball single through the middle against a defensive shift that featured seven defenders on the outfield grass, and an Adolis García infield single.