ARLINGTON, Texas — Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal didn't have his best strike-throwing performance. He didn't throw an abundance of first-pitch strikes, and he didn't rack up a flurry of swinging strikes.

But Skubal made big pitches in big moments.

"I'm tired," Skubal said. "That was an exhausting outing."

His catcher, Jake Rogers, guided him through his start and provided all the offense in the Tigers' 2-1 win over the Texas Rangers in Monday's three-game series opener at Globe Life Field. Rogers — born and raised in Canyon, Texas — hit two solo home runs.

"I don't know if my family would let me back if I didn't leave Texas with a homer," Rogers said, jokingly. "It was a great game. I saw the ball well. Great performance by the pitching staff, too."

Entering Monday's game, Rogers hadn't hit a home run since April 28. After Monday's game, Rogers has four home runs in 38 games this season.

"He was our offense," manager A.J. Hinch said. "The offense was huge for him, and then navigating the traffic is really hard. You're trying to lead your pitching staff through a difficult top part of that lineup, and then it seemed like there were runners on base the entire time. He worked through it."

The Tigers (30-30) were troubled by right-hander Nathan Eovaldi, but Jake Rogers took advantage of a middle-up curveball with two strikes and two outs in the third inning. He turned on the hanging curveball for a 379-foot home run to left field.

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His first homer tied the game, 1-1.

Rogers struck again in the eighth inning, this time with one strike and two outs against right-handed reliever Jose Leclerc. He drove a middle-middle cutter for a 390-foot home run to left field for a 2-1 lead that held up.

Rogers has hit safely in 14 of his last 20 games with an at-bat. The 29-year-old is hitting .308 with an .880 OPS in the 21-game stretch, dating back to April 27.

"Swinging at good pitches, being on time," Rogers said. "I thought I was a little late early, especially really early, people were blowing heaters by me. When you're in between, it's hard to hit. Late on a heater, early on a breaking ball, it's not a good equation for success. I got on time. Getting on time and putting good swings on pitches that are in the zone is helping me out as of late."

While Rogers helped Skubal, he also helped right-handed reliever Beau Brieske complete the seventh, eighth and ninth innings.

Brieske retired eight batters in a row before Ezequiel Duran's two-strike, two-out double down the first-base line that deflected off the bag and into foul territory in the bottom of the ninth inning. Hinch visited Brieske on the mound but left him in the game to face Leody Taveras with a runner on second base and two outs.

The decision paid off.

Taveras flew out to center field to end the game.

"I loved how he was pitching," Hinch said. "It was his last hitter, which is why I went out to tell him and see where he was. He kept saying, 'I got it, I got it.' I said, 'Get this guy, it's your last guy,' and he did. Tremendous job by both Tarik and Beau, but especially Beau given that type of ending doesn't happen very often nowadays."

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Tarik Skubal shoves

Before Rogers' go-ahead homer in the eighth, Skubal showcased his ability to pitch out of jams with help from Rogers behind the plate in the first six innings.

Skubal, who owns a 1.97 ERA in 12 starts, worked around seven hits and two walks to deliver six innings of one-run ball. The 27-year-old threw first-pitch strikes to just 15 of 26 batters (57.7%) and generated just 11 whiffs on 48 swings (22.9%).

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There were big moments in the third, fifth and sixth innings.

Skubal made pitches to escape jams.

In the first inning, though, Marcus Semien blasted Skubal's fifth-pitch changeup for a leadoff solo home run to left field.

The Rangers took a 1-0 lead.

"I just elevated a pitch," Skubal said. "That's why he is who he is. I think he's very underrated. I think he's one of the best players in our game. He gets paid to hit, too."

Skubal was tested in the third inning because of back-to-back singles from Semien and Corey Seager, both on changeups. He stuck with his trusty changeup for back-to-back pitches against ex-Tiger Robbie Grossman, and the second changeup produced an inning-ending double play.

A similar situation occurred in the fifth inning, when Skubal walked Semien and gave up a single to Seager. Once again, Skubal leaned on his changeup to take down Grossman with an inning-ending strikeout.

"That's always going to be a good pitch for him," Rogers said of Skubal's changeup. "We're never going to go away from it. We're going to pitch off that pitch with his heater, kind of using that back and forth method like we've always done to keep timing off, and he did well."

The Rangers were ready to chase Skubal in the sixth inning with back-to-back base runners — Adolis Garcia (single) and Jonah Heim (walk) — before Skubal sent down the next three batters to complete his outing on a positive note.

He struck out Wyatt Langford with a changeup and struck out Josh Smith with a sinker, both called strikeouts. After that, Skubal induced an inning-ending groundout.

"That's all Skub, good and bad," Rogers said. "He left the ball up a little bit, but he made some adjustments and attacked the zone. He's been good at that all year. Walking a guy, giving up a hit and a double, and then all of a sudden, he's three punch outs away, and we're back in the dugout hitting. Tip the cap to Skub for that."

Justyn-Henry Malloy makes MLB debut

Justyn-Henry Malloy was ready to swing the bat.

He jumped a first-pitch fastball from Eovaldi in the second inning. Malloy hammered the high-velocity fastball 378 feet to right-center field, but he flew out to the warning track. The aggressive approach, rather than a passive approach, was encouraging from Malloy in the first plate appearance of his career.

It wouldn't have been a homer in any big-league parks.

"I knew I hit it well," Malloy said. "I knew I hit it too high. I knew I hit in a part of the field that was pretty deep. Once I have my first kids, get some dad strength, maybe it goes out somewhere."

Malloy finished 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in his MLB debut. He struck out swinging on an elevated fastball from Eovaldi in the fifth inning, then he struck out with a checked swing on a down-and-away fastball from right-handed reliever Jose Leclerc in the seventh inning.

Eovaldi dominated in his second game back from the injured list, sidelined for three weeks with a groin strain. He allowed one run on three hits across 5⅔ innings, throwing 71 pitches. He recorded seven strikeouts compared to zero walks.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jake Rogers' 2 HRs lift Detroit Tigers past Texas Rangers, 2-1