Perez Escapes Trouble to Get Through Six

Martin Perez has been the Rangers' shakiest starting pitcher this year, even if the stats might say otherwise.

And it all points back to two starts for the young lefty — strikeouts and walks.

One of those issues — the walks — continued on Sunday as he tied a season-high with five free passes. The other — the strikeouts — disappeared as he fanned a season-high seven batters to escape from a couple of jams and get through six innings of the Rangers' comeback win over the Tigers.

Perez fell into a 2-0 deficit in the third inning when he allowed five straight base runners with two outs before coming back and striking out a batter to end the frame after walking in a run.

After that, he put up zeroes in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to finish his day with 105 pitches while allowing the two runs on two hits and the five walks.

The walk issue is still a very big one, and it is a huge concern, but to see him find a strikeout pitch on Sunday and be able to escape with something other than the double play was encouraging.

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