Lange earned the save in Wednesday's 4-1 win over the Cardinals, recording two strikeouts and a walk over 1.1 scoreless innings.
Lange struck out Willson Contreras for the final out in the eighth inning before closing the door in the ninth, working around a two-out walk to Paul Goldschmidt for his second save this season. Jason Foley was likely unavailable Wednesday after pitching three of the last four days, though Lange has continued to pitch well in a set-up role -- he's held opponents scoreless in his last 7.2 innings, allowing just two hits and two walks while striking out nine in that span. The 28-year-old right-hander lowered his ERA to 0.75 with a 1.17 WHIP 16:9 K:BB across 12 innings this season.
Tigers' Alex Lange: Control issues persist in loss
Rotowire
Lange (0-1) allowed five unearned runs to take the loss in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader against the Twins. He walked two and retired two batters via strikeout.
Lange didn't allow any hits or earned runs, but it still wasn't a great performance. Coming on in the top of the 12th inning with a runner on second, the righty walked the first hitter he faced. Later in the frame, Lange walked in a run with the bases loaded. The big blow came a few batters later, when a Zach McKinstry fielding error with the bases loaded led to three more runs. While Lange sits with a solid 2.08 ERA, free passes continue to be a big problem, as he now has seven of them this year in just 4.1 innings. Lange will need to cut down on the walks if he wants to earn trust in high-leverage spots. He also tossed a whopping 36 pitches in the uneven appearance, so he surely won't be available for the nightcap.
