Final thoughts from Texas Rangers’ win over Tigers: Does Texas have a new closer?

DETROIT — So, uh, what’s up with the Texas Rangers’ offense?

It might be a minor problem that — for the fourth time in their last nine games — the Rangers scored two or less runs. It’s a problem for another day, at least, for now.

“We’re not quite clicking offensively,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said Monday night. “We needed the pitching to step up, and they did.”

Starter Michael Lorenzen logged five shutout innings in his debut for the Rangers and turned the ball over to the cantankerous Texas bullpen, which combined to log four scoreless frames in a 1-0 win over the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.

Here are four thoughts from the Rangers’ win

Is it Kirby Yates time in the ninth inning?: If the decision is based on results and track record, surely. Yates, a 2019 All-Star closer with the San Diego Padres, hasn’t allowed a run in six innings pitched with the Rangers. He’s only given up one hit in that span, too.

And, in Monday’s win, he pitched a perfect ninth inning to record his first save for Texas. José Leclerc held the ninth-inning job for the first two weeks of the season, but was demoted to a lower-leverage job after he gave up one earned run or more in four of his first five outings.

Yates, 37, battled injuries after his remarkable 2019 season and signed with the Rangers in December. He said last week that he doesn’t feel as good as he did in 2019, but that he feels as good as he did in 2018 when he yielded a 2.13 ERA in 63 innings pitched for San Diego.

“We’ll keep it open,” Bochy said of the closer role. “But I think the way [Yates] is throwing the ball right now, we kind of like where it’s at.”

Speaking of Leclerc: He pitched two scoreless, high-leverage innings in Monday’s win. Leclerc relieved Lorenzen in the sixth inning and worked around a one-out single to record a scoreless frame, then logged a 1-2-3 seventh.

He pitched a scoreless low-leverage inning during Friday’s 12-8 win over the Houston Astros, too.

“His last relief job he did against Houston was a really, really good job by him,” Bochy said. “I thought he had great stuff. So it was good to have him available for a couple of innings, we’ve been using this bullpen a lot. He was fresh, ready to go, we needed a couple of innings from him.”

They got defensive: Shortstop Josh Smith started in place of All-Star Corey Seager and made a handful of key defensive plays. He kickstarted a pair of 6-4-3 double plays in the fourth and fifth innings that helped bail Lorenzen out, and snagged a 98.8 mph Kerry Carpenter line drive in the eighth with runners on first and second.

“He’s so good defensively,” Bochy said. “He’s done a great job at third, you put him at short he does a great job. You can put him anywhere, including the outfield.”

Center fielder Leody Taveras recorded his first web gem of the season, too. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Detroit third baseman Gio Urshela lined a sharp, trailing drive into center that Taveras tracked, chased down, dove and caught for the inning’s first out.

You know what the midwest is?: Recently, at least, a thorn in the Rangers’ side. Their series loss to the Cincinnati Reds last April left some referring to the Ohio municipality as “the city that won’t be named.” A three-game sweep at the hands of the Cleveland Guardians last September left some wondering who, exactly, these Rangers were. Monday’s win got things off on the right foot on the road against a central division opponent.

The case of Jonah Heim vs. umpires: Heim was called for catcher’s interference in the eighth inning when Spencer Torkelson swung and missed on a David Robertson pitch. Torkelson’s bat, however, collided with Heim’s glove — which had already caught Robertson’s strike. This one might’ve been more by the book, but, it’s the latest installment of calls not going in favor of the Rangers’ All-Star backstop. Most notably, he was assessed a passed ball on opening day vs. the Chicago Cubs on a ball that looked to have been fouled off after the review of a replay.

Twitter: @McFarland_Shawn

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