The Texas Rangers overcame a rough major league debut from Jack Leiter to hold off the Detroit Tigers in the finale of their four-game series Thursday.
Leiter, the No. 2 overall draft selection in 2021 and the son of former big-league left-hander Al Leiter, struck out two in a scoreless first inning but struggled after that. The hard-throwing right-hander lasted just 3⅔ innings, allowing seven runs and eight hits with three walks and three strikeouts.
The Rangers held on to win the matinee contest, however, thanks to a 13-hit outburst that included a two-run home run from Jonah Heim and solo shots by Marcus Semien and Adolis Garcia.
Detroit rallied for four runs off Leiter in the second to forge a 4-4 tie, but Texas retook the lead in the third on Garcia’s homer and went ahead 7-4 in the top of the fourth when Evan Carter plated Semien on a sacrifice fly.
The Tigers once again tied the score in the bottom of the fourth thanks to Kerry Carpenter‘s two-run triple and Spencer Torkelson‘s RBI double, which chased Leiter.
The Rangers took the lead for good when Leody Taveras scored the go-ahead run on a fielder’s choice in the eighth. Taveras added an RBI single in the ninth for Texas, which won three out of four games in Detroit.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.