5 Things for May 23rd: Robbie Ray Hit Around as Tigers Fall to Rangers

1. Robbie Ray pitched very well in his first two career major league outings, shutting down the Twins and Astros.  Yesterday, he faced his first quality major league lineup, and it did not end well.  Ray got chased after 3.1 innings, giving up seven runs and nine hits.  The Tigers have now lost four straight games.

The highlight of the game for Detroit was when shortstop Danny Worth stepped in to pitch the ninth inning.  He struck out two Rangers, one swinging and one looking.  The two teams will play again tonight at 7:08.  Scott Baker pitches for Texas, and Anibal Sanchez goes for Detroit.

Ray will head back to Triple-A, where he will join the Mud Hens rotation.  Meanwhile, the Tigers have called up top prospect Cory Knebel, who will join their bullpen.

2. A new hero may be emerging for the Montreal Canadiens.  Montreal was staring a 3-0 series deficit in the face as they were on their heels against the Rangers.  Rookie goalie Dustin Tokarski was tremendous, making some excellent saves and keeping the Habs in the game when they were clearly the worse team.

Montreal was sluggish early.  The Canadiens eventually turned it around and gained a 2-1 lead, but the Rangers tied it up with under a minute to go.  The game went to overtime, where Alex Galchenyuk ended it.  Galchenyuk is playing just his second game of the playoffs since returning from injury.  The Rangers are still ahead 2-1 in this series, and these two teams will play again on Sunday.

3.  More bad injury news for the Texas Rangers, who have been hit as hard as anyone this year.  This time, it comes in the form of former Tigers first baseman Prince Fielder.  Fielder has a herniated disk in his neck, and there is a good chance that it will require season-ending surgery.  Texas may kick the tires with free agent Kendrys Morales once the first-year player draft passes.

4. The NBA was off last night, and they will not play again tonight either.  Indiana and Miami will play on Saturday night, and the big question is about whether Paul George will play or not. George participated in non-contact drills in practice yesterday, and his status is still unknown for this weekend he recovers from concussion-like symptoms.

5. Another NBA owner got himself into trouble yesterday.  This time, it was Mark Cuban who made controversial comments about racism and bigotry.