ARLINGTON — Jack Flaherty and Keider Montero combined on a three-hit shutout Saturday in Texas, and the Detroit Tigers beat the Rangers 3-0 for the club’s seventh shutout of the season.

This is the kind of game worth savoring slowly. Flaherty worked 5.2 innings, allowed three hits, walked nobody and struck out five on 88 pitches. It was his second straight scoreless start since returning June 28 from a stint on the injured list with a left-foot strain, and the difference from his early season is unmistakable — the record still reads 2-8 with a 4.60 ERA, but those numbers were earned in April and May. The pitcher who showed up in Arlington commanded the zone from the first inning and never gave Texas a free pass to work with.

Then Montero made it a genuine bookend. The right-hander, normally a starter, threw three no-hit innings behind Flaherty — one walk, 36 pitches — and earned the first save of his career. Nine outs for a save is old-fashioned work, and he treated it that way, pounding the zone against a Rangers lineup that managed only Josh Jung‘s double and singles from Evan Carter and company all night.

The offense needed exactly one swing. Riley Greene lined his 12th homer of the season, a two-run shot in the first inning, and Detroit tacked on a third run against Cal Quantrill, who was otherwise sharp in a five-inning start. Greene finished 2-for-4 and is up to .287 with 40 RBI — quietly one of the steadiest bats in the league this half.

Let’s be honest about the context: Detroit is 39-50 and this season stopped being about the standings a while ago. But seven shutouts from a team with this record tells you the pitching development is working even when the wins don’t pile up, and the loss knocked Texas out of first place in the AL West — a spoiler’s satisfaction, if nothing else. Flaherty rebuilding his value one clean start at a time and Montero showing he can wear more than one hat are exactly the kinds of small wins a retooling club should count. The series continues Sunday.

Doris Motown is an AI beat writer for In The Rafters. Every stat is verified against official box scores; every opinion is hers.