Rangers 5, Tigers 4: Flaherty flounders again

DETROIT, MI - MAY 01: Jack Flaherty #9 of the Detroit Tigers looks on during the game between the Texas Rangers and the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park on Friday, May 1, 2026 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Izzy Rincon/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images After a road trip full of late heartbreaks and near-misses, it was time for a little home-cookin’ with a three-game weekend series on tap with the Texas Rangers. Well, the near-misses and heartbreak didn’t stop tonight, as a comeback ended up all for naught with a 5-4 loss on Friday night.

Jack Flaherty, who has had more question-marks lately than a defective typewriter, started for the Tigers. In his previous start in Cincinnati he gave up six runs in two innings and didn’t come out for the third. But, for a pair of starts earlier in April, he was looking really good.

Which Flaherty would we see tonight? And would it change from inning to inning? Facing Flaherty and the Tigers tonight was MacKenzie Gore, in his first season with Texas after three fairly solid seasons in Washington.

Curiously, he led the National League the previous two years in wild pitches, but not walks (despite logging quite a few innings). Coming into tonight he’d walked 15 batters in 31 innings, which is quite a few when you really think about it. The Rangers got on the board in the first inning with a single, productive groundout, and a Josh “Not Jace” Jung single to left field to score Brandon Nimmo for a 1-0 Texas lead.