It didn’t take much to know that runs would be at a premium when the Rangers took on the Tigers on Sunday Night Baseball.

Anytime you’re facing one of the game’s greats on the mound, the hope is that you can do enough to keep yourself in the game.

That’s exactly what the Rangers did against Tigers superstar Tarik Skubal, but in the end, Detroit and their ace proved to be too much as Texas fell 2-1, failing to complete the sweep.

Skubal was dominant from the jump, allowing just two hits through six innings en route to punching out 11 Rangers on the night.

“We can talk about approach, but you’re talking about one of the best in the game, ” [Skubal] Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said.

“It’s a tough duty for hitters, you hope you battle and find a way to score, which we did. When you go up against somebody like that, you just hope your pitching comes through, which it did”.

“I really couldn’t ask for more to have a tie game there off one of the best pitchers in the game with a chance to win”.

The Rangers lone run came after Skubal departed the game with runners on first and third and one out in the seventh. After doubling off Skubal to open the inning, Adolis Garcia trotted home on a wild pitch out of the hand of Tigers reliever Tyler Holten to tie the game at one.

Unfortunately for the Rangers, that tie would not last long as Chris Martin gave up a two-out RBI single to Tigers center fielder Matt Vierling in the 8th which ended up as the deciding blow.

On the play, Martin left the game with what the Rangers described as a left quad strain. Texas will know more about the extent of the injury tomorrow.

Despite the offense being shut down for most of the night, the Rangers pitching kept the team in the game the entire night.

Jacob Latz fired five innings of one-run ball after finding out he would start this game less than 24 hours before first pitch, following Nathan Eovaldi’s stretch due to back tightness.

Out of the bullpen, Luke Jackson (1.2 innings), Hoby Milner (0.1 innings), and Caleb Boushley (1.1 innings) each fired scoreless frames.