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 3â…” innings, allowing seven runs and eight hits with three walks and three strikeouts.
"He was all right," Texas manager Bruce Bochy said. "He had a little trouble hitting his spots in the second inning but he came right back in the third and got two quick outs in the fourth before he ran into trouble."
Leiter said it was "a surreal experience" to make his major league debut.
"It's something you dream about since you were a little kid. Being around the game always, it's a special day. I know I'm better and I need to be better, and I will be better. And that's kind of the frustration is some pitches that I left on the table and some mistakes that I made," he said.
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.
