Detroit, MI
Detroit Tigers vs. Texas Rangers, 1:40 p.m.

Detroit Tigers (26-14) vs. Texas Rangers (19-21)
Time/Place: 1:40 p.m., Comerica Park
SB Nation Site: Lone Star Ball
Media: FanDuel Sports Detroit, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network
Pitching Matchup: RHP Reese Olson (4-2, 3.03 ERA) vs. RHP Nathan Eovaldi (3-2, 2.03 ERA)
Game 41 Pitching Matchup
Player | IP | K% | BB% | FIP | fWAR |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Player | IP | K% | BB% | FIP | fWAR |
Olson | 38.2 | 24.8 | 10.6 | 2.94 | 0.9 |
Eovaldi | 48.2 | 28.5 | 2.2 | 2.24 | 1.6 |
Game 41 Lineups
RANGERS | TIGERS |
---|---|
RANGERS | TIGERS |
Josh Smith – 1B | Kerry Carpenter – RF |
Wyatt Langford – LF | Gleyber Torres – 2B |
Joc Pederson – DH | Colt Keith – DH |
Adolis Garcia – RF | Riley Greene – LF |
Marcus Semien – 2B | Spencer Torkelson – 1B |
Evan Carter – CF | Zach McKinstry – SS |
Josh Jung – 3B | Dillon Dingler – C |
Jonah Heim – C | Jace Jung – 3B |
Ezequiel Duran – SS | Javier Baez – CF |

Detroit, MI
Tarik Skubal stung by Seattle Mariners early, and then bullpen blows up in 12-3 loss

Were Detroit Tigers snubbed for 2025 MLB All-Star Game?
On “Days of Roar,” Evan Petzold — joined by Scott Bentley of “Locked On Tigers” — breaks down Detroit Tigers players in the 2025 MLB All-Star Game.
The Detroit Tigers didn’t get the usual pinpoint control from ace Tarik Skubal in their series opener against the Seattle Mariners.
It hardly mattered by the ninth inning, with the Mariners scoring seven runs in the frame, highlighted by a Cal Raleigh grand slam (his second of the game) to give the M’s star an MLB-leading 38 homers on the season.
But it was the Mariners’ other slugger that gave them the lead for good.
On a 1-2 count in the top of the fifth, with the Tigers already down by two, Skubal hung a changeup to Mariners center fielder Julio Rodríguez. The slugger did not miss, sending the pitch 440 feet from home plate beyond the Little Caesars logo in left-center field.
It ended up as the deciding blow in the Mariners’ 12-3 win over the Tigers on Friday, July 11, at Comerica Park. Skubal allowed four earned runs against the Mariners after two consecutive scoreless starts (on June 29 and July 6), a less-than-ideal way for the ace to enter the All-Star break.
“I felt like I was fighting myself all day,” Skubal said. “Couldn’t get into a rhythm, for whatever reason.”
He finished the start allowing four hits and four earned runs in five innings, striking out five batters and walking two. And in a sign of things to come, his control seemed off from the very first batter.
Skubal hit Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford with his second pitch of the game on a wayward sinker, marking the first time in his career that Skubal has hit a batter to lead off a game. He forced consecutive ground balls from Rodríguez and Raleigh, however, with the one from Raleigh an inning-ending double play to keep the Mariners off the scoreboard in the first inning.
“I put us in a hole early. And as the starting pitcher, you try to keep your team in the game as long as possible. And I just didn’t do my job today,” he said.
Skubal allowed his first run in the second inning off a triple from first baseman Donovan Solano that got by a diving Parker Meadows in center field. The hit scored second baseman Jorge Polanco from first base, giving the Mariners a 1-0 lead, and it might have scored a second run had any Mariner but the slow-footed Solano hit it.
It was the first run Skubal had allowed in 18 innings, with his previous run allowed coming off a two-run home run from Athletics’ center fielder Denzel Clark on June 24.
Crawford was on the receiving end of another Skubal rarity in the third inning, drawing a one-out walk. Skubal, who entered the game with the lowest walk rate among all qualified starters (1.09 per nine innings), hadn’t walked a batter since his June 29 start against the Minnesota Twins.
Skubal’s second earned run of the game came off a two-out RBI single from Crawford in the bottom of the fifth. His next two came off one swing, the towering home run from Rodríguez on the next at-bat that made the score 4-1 in favor of Seattle.
This is the fifth loss the Tigers have recorded on a Skubal start and the first since a 1-0 loss against the Kansas City Royals on May 31. This is also the first time in 2025 the Tigers have lost a Skubal start by more than one run, and Skubal’s first loss since early April; he had won 10 consecutive decisions.
“It’s a good reminder these guys are human, and they’re going to have some of these games where they’re not at their best,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said.
Skubal’s next start might be at the 2025 All-Star Game at Truist Park in Atlanta. Although American League manager Aaron Boone has not indicated who he will choose as his starting pitcher, the AL Cy Young favorite stands as a likely choice for the honor.
The four earned runs raised Skubal’s ERA from 2.02 to 2.23 on the season.
Tigers bats not quite hot enough
The Tigers offense, mostly silent through the first three innings with three total baserunners, got the first two runners on in the fourth via a Torres walk and Wenceel Pérez single. A soft flyout from Riley Greene and a strikeout from Spencer Torkelson looked like it would end the threat, especially with Zach McKinstry initially called out on strikes in what appeared to end the inning.
However, the umpires had a quick conference and determined that McKinstry’s whiff was actually a foul tip that hit the ground, allowing the inning to continue. The All-Star wasted no time with his do-over, dropping the next pitch into center field for an RBI single to tie the game at 1. Catcher Dillon Dingler reached first via a hit-by-pitch on the next at-bat to load the bases for Parker Meadows, but Meadows struck out to end the inning, ending the Tigers’ threat.
Mariners starter Luis Castillo outdueled his opponent, allowing three earned runs and six hits over five innings, striking out six Tigers.
“For a while, we didn’t put two really good at-bats together back-to-back, hardly at all. And that’s because Castillo was controlling the tempo and the timing and the barrel contact,” said Hinch.
A no-out Greene triple off Castillo in the sixth inning cut the score to 4-2, scoring Pérez from third base. Torkelson’s sacrifice fly to left field scored Greene and made it a one-run game, though Torkelson’s flyout was only a few feet away from clearing the left-center wall and tying the game.
Greene finished 2-for-4 with an RBI, while Pérez finished 2-for-3 with a run.
Comedy in the ninth
A bullpen relay of Tyler Holton, Carlos Hernández and Brant Hurter gave up a combined eight runs in the eighth and ninth innings, giving the Mariners a comfortable lead as the game approached its conclusion.
In a treat for those who stayed through the blowout, Tigers catcher Jake Rogers entered to pitch with one out in the ninth for his second pitching appearance of the season. His first came in a June 14 game against the Cincinnati Reds, which the Tigers lost, 11-1.
Rogers got Solano to ground out before hitting Luke Raley with a pitch in the next at-bat. He then induced third baseman Ben Williamson to line out to left to complete his first career scoreless outing.
The Tigers next face the Mariners on Saturday, July 12, with first pitch scheduled for 1:10 p.m.
You can reach Christian at cromo@freepress.com
Detroit, MI
A ‘great’ Detroit father’s final wish gets granted — as helicopter drops money and rose petals from the sky

Making it rain one last time.
A Detroit man’s dying wish to have thousands of dollars fall from the sky by helicopter as his “last blessing” to his community was honored by his family last month.
Darrell “Plant” Thomas, a 58-year-old car wash owner in East Detroit known for his generosity, died after a battle with Alzheimer’s on June 15, and wanted to have a dramatic send–off.
At his funeral on June 27, his sons organized a helicopter to drop $5,000 and rose petals on unsuspecting mourners as they honored their father at the event held on Gratiot Avenue and Connor Street.
“This was a final expression of love from him to the community because he was a giver,” Thomas’s niece, Crystal Perry, told the Detroit Free Press.
“Yesterday was simply a farewell tribute to an Eastside legend.”
Footage from the event shows a helicopter hovering in a clear blue sky, while petals and money rain down, causing people to scream with excitement and rush to catch them on the ground.
In other videos, people are seen happily scooping up bills from the street, bending down to grab handfuls of cash as it floated across the pavement.
Traffic along the six-lane road of Gratiot Avenue came to a standstill for several minutes as funeral goers and onlookers rushed to grab some of the cash.
However, instead of turning into mayhem with people trying to fill their pockets, the crowd remained calm as they went for the money.
“Everybody got a little bit,” Lisa Knife, an employee at the nearby Airport Express Lube & Service, told the Detroit News of the surreal scene.
Knife said she didn’t rush to grab the money, but took the moment to admire how the gesture brought members of the Motor City community together.
“There was no fighting, none of that. It was really beautiful,” Knife said.
One of Thomas’s sons, Dante — better known as “Smoke” — told Fox 2 Detroit that he added some of his own cash and that the gesture was the least they could do to honor a man so beloved in his community.
“Detroit, y’all might not know who my father was, but he was a great father,” Smoke said.
“Among his community he was a legend, and he blessed everyone and that was his last blessing to everyone. That’s all it was. Many blessings to everyone and long live Plant. Long live Plant that’s it.”
The Detroit Police Department briefly closed off traffic to allow the crowd to enjoy Thomas’s final send-off safely. They were aware of the rose petals — but said they were surprised by the money.
Police said they are not investigating the incident. However, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has launched an investigation.
Thomas owned Showroom Shine Express, a business he poured his heart into for decades, and was known to many as a passionate professional race car driver with the National Hot Rod Association.
Detroit, MI
Detroit community organizations react to new violence prevention plan

The city of Detroit is taking action after a dangerous rise in shootings involving minors.
Mayor Mike Duggan and Police Chief Todd Bettison on Monday unveiled their plan to combat the recent uptick in teen violence.
They say the city is about to see a level of curfew enforcement it has never seen before. Detroit’s Community Violence Intervention organizations have been urging city leaders to take action for some time now.
One group, Denby Neighborhood Alliance, is encouraged by the five-step plan, but it says there’s more that can be done.
For the first time in weeks, there’s activity at Skinner Playfield in Detroit. Sandra Turner-Handy, the executive director of Denby Neighborhood Alliance, says that hasn’t been the case since the deadly shooting two weeks ago that left a 4-year-old and an 18-year-old dead.
Turner-Handy hopes the city’s action plan, which includes more curfew enforcement, will change things.
“After the shooting of Samir and Davian. It’s like nobody’s here. It’s empty. The park is empty,” she said. “The fact that we have something in the community that is no longer deemed safe. It hurts me.”
Pastor Maurice “Pastor Mo”Hardwick, founder of the Live in Peace, No Beef Zone movement, preaches a message of unity.
“We bumped up the police force in training. We got that. Got the right police chief. Duggan has done a great job. We now just need the citizens and the parents to be in coalition with us to save your child,” Hardwick said.
Duggan and Bettison both stressed holding parents and guardians responsible.
Hardwick prays for their success.
“Too many people are being shot, too many babies are being shot. We don’t have time to be so nice about this. We have babies going into caskets,” he said.
In the meantime, community groups like the Denby Neighborhood Alliance say there needs to be more prevention.
“We need summer activities for these kids who they need to be somewhere doing something active,” Turner-Handy said.
They’re hopeful that will bring kids and teens back to places like Skinner Playfield.
The mother of 4-year-old Samir Josiah Grubbs will hold his repast at Skinner Playfield to show the community that this is still a welcoming place for kids. That’s planned for 1-5 p.m. on Saturday.
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