Tigers battling bullpen woes as Rangers visit

The concerns about the Detroit Tigers’ bullpen figure to be amplified following another late-inning setback.

Detroit has lost three of its last four games heading into Saturday night’s matchup against the visiting Texas Rangers, who opened the three-game series with a 5-4 win on Friday.

Detroit rallied from an early 4-0 deficit to tie the game in the fifth inning, but Texas moved ahead on back-to-back doubles by Jake Burger and Alejandro Osuna in the eighth against Burch Smith.

The Tigers’ bullpen entered Friday ranked 21st in the majors with a 4.39 ERA, and closer Kenley Jansen has blown two straight saves. The team also is monitoring the status of setup man Will Vest, who has not pitched since Sunday.

Detroit manager A.J. Hinch said Vest “is not 100%” but declined to say whether the reliever is injured.

“We’re going through a few things,” Hinch said. “Obviously, the bullpen has been leaned on quite a bit. There are guys that are not feeling at their best. That’s what we’re working through. We’re going day-by-day.”

Saturday’s pitching matchup will feature a pair of right-handers as Detroit’s Keider Montero (1-2, 4.00 ERA) will oppose Texas’ Kumar Rocker (1-2, 3.38).

Montero, 25, has pitched well while filling in for Justin Verlander, who has been out for the last four weeks with hip inflammation. There remains no timeline for when Verlander will begin a rehab assignment.

“He’s still fighting through it,” Hinch said Friday, “which doesn’t mean he should be shut down or changed. It just means it’s slow.”

Montero allowed three runs over five innings in a no-decision in his team’s 8-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday. He owns a 23-to-5 strikeout-to-walk ratio in five starts covering 27 innings.

Texas’ Andrew McCutchen has two homers in four at-bats against Montero, who is 0-1 with an 8.31 ERA in one previous start vs. the Rangers.

The Rangers will counter with Rocker, who gave up two runs over six innings in a 2-1 home loss to the Athletics on Sunday.

Rocker, 26, threw five scoreless innings after giving up a two-run triple to Carlos Cortes in the first inning.

“Rocker was great,” said Texas manager Skip Schumaker. “He walked those two guys in the first inning, and after that really settled in. He gave us a chance to win. Six innings, two runs, you’d sign up for that all day long. He was fantastic. We just couldn’t get that big hit.”

Rocker made his only career start against Detroit on July 19, 2025, when he allowed one hit over 6 1/3 scoreless innings in a 4-1 home victory.

Texas third baseman Josh Jung continued his hot stretch on Friday with two singles and two RBIs. Jung is batting .378 with two homers and 11 RBIs during a 10-game hitting streak.

Rangers right fielder Brandon Nimmo exited Friday’s game with right hamstring tightness and is listed as day-to-day.

“He felt it a little bit in the at-bat,” Schumaker said. “I saw him shaking his leg. I ran out there, asked what the deal was, he said ‘I could play,” shocker, like I thought he would, but I didn’t really … feel like it was worth it. I didn’t really want to push him.”

–Field Level Media