Tigers 5, Rangers 1: Dingler homers, Montero cruises

May 2, 2026; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Keider Montero (54) celebrates in the dugout after giving up only one run in six plus innings against the Texas Rangers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images | Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images After a rough day of injury news and in the wake of another messy start from Jack Flaherty, the Detroit Tigers needed to settle things down. Keider Montero was the man for the job, and he got it done with another quality start.

Dillon Dingler supplied the power, and the Tigers put together a relatively calm victory on Saturday night in Comerica Park. Keider Montero has been a godsend to a banged up back of the Tigers’ rotation. More proof will be required, but he appears a more composed and mature pitcher this year, less prone to the bouts of poor command that have plagued him a bit in a starting role during his first two seasons as a part-time major leaguer.

The Tigers needed a pretty one from him today to break out of their road trip funk. Montero got ahead of Evan Carter and Corey Seager in the top of the first, but was fortunate that a pair of hard hit balls were run down in center and right field. Kerry Carpenter in particular did a nice job running into the gap at the wall to haul in Seager’s drive.

A lineout from Josh Jung to Gleyber Torres made it a quick 1-2-3 inning for Montero. Kevin McGonigle popped out to start the bottom half, but Gleyber Torres reached on a soft tapper toward third. Kumar Rocker was only throwing 91-93 mph out of the gate, which was interesting.