DETROIT — Tigers lefty starter Matthew Boyd came out attacking a very dangerous Texas Rangers lineup Monday.
He breezed through the first three innings on 32 pitches, 22 of them strikes.
Gradually, though, as the at-bats got tougher, the strike zone got a little fuzzy on him. He started falling behind hitters in the fourth. Then in the fifth, he walked former Tiger Robbie Grossman (after having him down in the count 0-2). After getting two outs, Boyd threw four straight balls to Marcus Semien.
His first-pitch curveball to left-handed hitting Corey Seager hung in the hitting zone and Seager crushed it. The 400-foot, three-run home run to right field sent the Rangers to a 5-0 win in the first of three games at Comerica Park.
The Rangers, now 34-19, have tied the best 53-game start in their history. They are 20-8 since April 28.
The Tigers, trying to get to .500 for the first time since Opening Day, fall back to 25-27.
A big part of Texas’ success has been the stellar work of right-hander Nathan Eovaldi, who the Tigers had to contend with Monday. He came in having averaged eight innings in his last five starts and allowing just four runs total in 41.2 innings.
To their credit, just like they did against the White Sox rotation over the weekend, they made him work. Spencer Torkelson and Nick Maton led off the second inning with walks and a single by Akil Baddoo loaded the bases with no outs.
But they couldn’t get the run-scoring hit. Eric Haase hit into a force out at the plate and Andy Ibanez grounded into a double-play.
In the third, singles by Zach McKinstry and Riley Greene put runners at the corners with two outs. Eovaldi got Torkelson to ground out to end the inning.
The Tigers on the season are 9 for 52 (.170) with the bases loaded and rank last in the American League with a .112 average (9 for 80) with runners in scoring position.
Not good. But the upside of those empty rallies was that Eovaldi’s pitch-count was elevated. He was at 95 pitches and out of the game after five innings.
Which is only useful if you do damage against the Rangers’ bullpen. The Tigers did not. They had just one hit off three relievers the rest of the way.
The Rangers knocked Boyd out of the game in the seventh and extended their lead against reliever Mason Englert — a pitcher they did not protect in last year’s Rule 5 draft.
Boyd left after walking Grossman for the second time and allowing a single to Leody Taveras. Englert ended up allowing those two runners to score — sacrifice fly by Marcus Semien and an RBI single by Seager.
This was the fifth time the Tigers have been shut out this season.