Behind Wentz, Marisnick, Tigers salvage series finale against Rangers

Detroit — As manager AJ Hinch said Wednesday morning after announcing that Riley Greene was going on the injured list because of a stress fracture in his left fibula, the baseball schedule doesn’t allow for wallowing or self-pity.

"It's frustrating to go through this, but at the same time, the game is going to start at 1:10 p.m.," he said. "You've got to play. You've got to play hard and you've got to play to win."

The players had a choice; they could fold or fight.

“I know these guys will make the right choice,” he said.

There was no visible absence of fight Wednesday.

They scraped together four singles to break a 1-1 tie in the sixth inning and salvaged the final game of the three-game set against the Texas Rangers, 3-2, at Comerica Park.

"It was a crushing blow (to lose Greene and Rodriguez)," said Tyler Nevin, who contributed two hits and scored the third run. "Not only losing the player, but losing the teammate. But, you have to pick it up and you have to keep going."

BOX SCORE: Tigers 3, Rangers 2

Nick Maton and Nevin opened the sixth with singles, chasing Texas starter Dane Dunning. Zack Short greeted reliever Jonathan Hernandez with a bunt-single to load the bases.

A two-strike sacrifice fly by Jake Rogers scored one run and then the new Jake — Jake Marisnick, whose contract was purchased before the game — lined a single to right to score Nevin. It was his second of two hits.

"It was a lot of fun," said Marisnick, whom the Tigers acquired in a minor-league deal for cash on Tuesday. "Just the vibe in here. Everybody is upbeat and positive and having fun. It's just next man up and you come in and take care of business. It's an easy environment to come into." 

Marisnick, who played for Hinch in Houston, was languishing in Triple-A with the White Sox. He got the news at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday and was on a plane for Detroit by 8 p.m.

"He's been at this level for a long time," Hinch said. "The level's not going to bother him. Flying across the country, changing your life a little bit and contributing in a day game, though, is a lot. But, once the game started, he was going to be fine. It was a nice way to introduce himself to a lot of guys he doesn't know."

And the first ball hit in the game drove him back to the wall in center field.

"You can always count on that," Marisnick said, laughing.

But, if there was one player who embodied the fighting spirit on Wednesday, go with lefty starter Joey Wentz. Given what he soldiered through this month, allowing 21 runs in 20.1 innings over his previous five starts, this was a significant step forward.

"I think I did pretty well today," he said. "It felt like I was throwing the ball better. But, I'm just thrilled with the team win. A lot of guys had a huge impact."

Wentz gave up some loud contact, scattered seven hits and struck out five in his 4⅓ innings, but he bowed his neck and limited the powerful Rangers offense to a single run. His battle level was impressive.

"He's still really hard on himself," Hinch said. "I could feel it every time he came in. My little knuckles (from the fist bumps) got harder and harder. But, he executed better. His breaking ball was better early."

The first five hitters he faced all hit balls with exit velocities of over 100 mph. Still, he was able to induce Josh Jung to ground out to short, stranding runners at second and third.

His biggest out came with the bases loaded and two outs in the fourth. He’d already allowed a run — a double by Jung and an RBI single by Jonah Heim — and Marcus Semien was up with two outs. Semien had already hit a 390-foot fly out and extended his hitting streak to 20 games earlier against Wentz.

Wentz threw him four curveballs and one fastball to get the count full. In a 1-1 game, no open base and Corey Seager on deck, Wentz threw a changeup — one of seven he threw in the game — and got Semien to pop out to first.

"Credit Rog (catcher Jake Rogers) for making the call," Wentz said. "I'd kind of thrown him everything and he crushed two balls off me. I tried mentally to like, 'Just don't baby it, throw it.' Fortunately, he popped it up."

Big moment.

"It would have been really easy there with the bases loaded to vacate the strike zone," Hinch said. "And he didn't. He executed the out. That was a huge turning point."

Another huge moment came in the top of the seventh. With a runner at first and one out, left-handed-hitting Seager lined a ball that one-hopped off the wall in right field off lefty reliever Chasen Shreve.

Right-fielder Zach McKinstry played the ball perfectly off the wall and threw a seed to second base, nailing Seager. Nathaniel Lowe followed with a single, which, because of McKinstry’s throw, scored one run and not two.

"I think (Seager) knows my arm," McKinstry said, smiling. "We played together a little bit (with the Dodgers). I just threw a nice strike to second base."

Reliever Jason Foley struck out Adolis Garcia to end the seventh, then, after he gave up a two-out triple to Leody Tavares in the eighth, he retired Josh H. Smith on a hard ground ball to third baseman Jonathan Schoop.

The Rangers put the tying run on second base in the ninth against Alex Lange. But, he struck out Lowe to earn his 10th save of the season.

"When you are in a series with your back up against the wall a little bit with some adversity, a lot of adversity over the last 48 hours, the win makes us feel good going into an off-day."

chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @cmccosky