After a game-tying home run by Brandon Inge in the seventh inning, the Detroit Tigers' offense skidded to a halt as the Texas Rangers jolted to life and put up four runs in the 11th to take a 3-1 series advantage with a 7-3 win on Wednesday night. Detroit managed just five hits in the loss, scoring two runs in the third and one in the seventh. And because of the missing offense, the Tigers now stand one game from elimination, with an uphill battle in front of them.
Over at SB Nation's Tigers' blog, Bless You Boys, the disgust with Detroit's offensive output on Wednesday was readily apparent.
5 hits: Gotta have more than 5 hits and 3 runs in the postseason. Unfortunately three runs seems to be Detroit's ceiling, as they've only broken past that number three times in nine postseason games.
Rick Porcello did his job. The bullpen did their job. Brandon Inge even had a game-tying home run. But the Tigers had just five hits. Scored just three runs. That's just not going to do it.
Really nothing more to say than that right now.
Detroit had its chances, most notably in the eighth when Nelson Cruz gunned down a tagging Miguel Cabrera at the plate on a Delmon Young fly-out. But with just five hits for the game and those three runs, Detroit left the door open, and the Rangers took advantage in the 11th.
For more on this game, check out the rest of the Baseball Nation live-blog and Rob Neyer's recap.