Folty's struggles continue in loss to Tigers

DETROIT -- Before Thursday’s series finale between the Rangers and Tigers, Texas manager Chris Woodward said he was looking to see a bounce-back day from starting pitcher Mike Foltynewicz.

In his first start out of the All-Star break against the Blue Jays, Foltynewicz allowed four home runs in just 1 2/3 innings. He wasn’t able to bounce back on Thursday, instead allowing three homers in four innings as the Rangers fell, 7-5, to the Tigers at Comerica Park.

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After giving up his second and third home runs of the day in the fourth inning on back-to-back shots from Zack Short and Victor Reyes, Foltynewicz dejectedly walked back to the mound. He induced the final two groundouts to end the frame, but the damage had been done.

Body language has been a recurring theme with Foltynewicz this season. He’s a guy who wears his emotions on his sleeve, and recently, he's had negative results.

“He's gotta be better now,” Woodward said. “It's something that we've addressed, obviously. He's got to show a little bit better for being an older guy. We’ve gotta be stronger than that as a group, and individually.

“It's a hard time right now, but we're not doing ourselves a favor at times, though. We’ve got to take ownership. So obviously, Folty’s a big part of our team. Being an older guy, he's got to set the tone and not let the younger guys see that bad body language.”

Tigers catcher Eric Haase said the Detroit hitters tried to jump out on Foltynewicz quickly since many have never faced him before. They succeeded, with Haase driving a three-run homer immediately in the first inning.

“Fortunately for us we got a couple guys on early, I got something over the plate to give us a quick lead,” Haase said. “But we were just having good ABs all day. We were making their pitching staff work a little bit, got into their bullpen quick again, which was huge for us.”

The loss extends the Rangers losing streak to nine games, dating back to the final two games against the A’s before the All-Star break. Texas joins the D-backs and Royals as the only teams this season with multiple losing streaks of nine games or more.

Woodward credited lefty Taylor Hearn for pitching well in relief behind Foltynewicz. He threw 2 1/3 innings, allowing one run and one walk with one strikeout. Hearn is a pitcher who could be slotted into the rotation if the Rangers end up dealing a starter at the Deadline. He’s posted a 3.97 ERA in 29 relief appearances this season.

“I’m just staying in the moment,” Hearn said. “I've been doing that and just being the best reliever I can be. That's kind of like the mentality I took this year is being the best in whatever type situations they put me in.”

The Rangers offense had an encouraging day, scoring more runs than they had in the previous five games combined. Haase said he thought keeping Joey Gallo and Adolis García quiet was the difference in the series. The two All-Star outfielders went a combined 6-for-29 with no RBIs or home runs in the four-game series.

"Those two guys make that lineup tick,” Haase said. “Everyone else in the lineup becomes dangerous when those guys are getting on. But they came up in some big spots and our pitchers executed the game plan to a tee multiple times.”

Andy Ibá?ez had three hits, including an RBI single in the top of the fourth inning to put the Rangers on the board and a leadoff triple in the eighth. A three-run sixth inning put Texas within striking distance of the Tigers, but it was unable to finish the job.

Woodward said he was pleased with the Rangers hitters’ overall approach at the plate even though they weren’t able to cash in on some prime opportunities.

“There was a lot more fight there today,” Woodward said. “We strung together some good at-bats, especially in big spots. I thought there were some big moments where we got a little bit unlucky. We hit some balls hard that just didn't find any grass. We were probably a hit or two away from really coming back in that game and tying it up.”