Rangers Beat Tigers
ARLINGTON, Texas — The long ball and a shutdown bullpen led the Texas Rangers to the brink of an American League West championship.
Left fielder Mike Napoli’s two run home run — one of three homers for Texas — keyed a four-run outburst with two outs in the third inning, and the Rangers beat the Detroit Tigers 6-2 Wednesday.
The Rangers (86-72) took two of three in the series and reduced their magic number to two. They lead the Houston Astros by 2 1/2 games and the Los Angeles Angels by three games.
The Angels lost to the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday, while Houston beat the Mariners in Seattle.
The Rangers and Angels close the regular season with a four-game, head-to-head series at Globe Life Park.
“We got a great team victory,” Napoli said. “We’ll enjoy this and go out there tomorrow and try to execute like we do every day.”
Texas third baseman Adrian Beltre hit his 17th home run, a two-run shot that tied the game in the first, and catcher Robinson Chirinos hit a tiebreaking solo homer to start the game-winning rally in the third.
Right-hander Yovani Gallardo (13-11) earned the victory, yielding two runs on nine hits and a walk while striking out five over 5 1/3 innings. Gallardo — who has not pitched more than six innings since June 27 and has only gone
six three times since then — gave up a two-run double to Detroit right fielder Tyler Collins in the first inning.
The Tigers had other chances, though few, putting runners in scoring position in the fifth and six innings.
Gallardo found trouble with two on and one out in the sixth. Texas manager Jeff Banister went to the bullpen, calling first on left-hander Andrew Faulkner to retire Collins and then right-hander Ross Ohlendorf, who induced an inning-ending groundout from Detroit third baseman Nick Castellanos.
“We put up hits, just not runs,” Detroit manager Brad Ausmus said. “We didn’t get the hits the timely hits with runners on.”
The Rangers’ bullpen held Detroit (73-85) scoreless over 6 2/3 innings during Texas’ two-game winning streak, giving up four hits over that period.
Right-hander Sam Dyson and right-handed closer Shawn Tolleson, working in non-save situation, pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings, respectively.
“The bullpen has done a great job all year,” Gallardo said. “We feel pretty confident with those guys coming into the game and closing the door.”
Detroit left-hander Matt Boyd (1-6) took the loss, giving up six runs on seven hits and a walk while striking out two over 2 2/3 innings.
His most glaring flaw was the three home runs he allowed.
“Boyd was just up. Two of the three home runs were off-speed pitches up in the zone. The third was a fastball up,” Ausmus said. “He was just up in the zone, and they took advantage of it early.”
The Rangers erased a 2-0 deficit with Beltre’s two-run home run in the first.
“That first inning I got behind a couple of hitters,” Gallardo said. “I made a pitch to Collins, but he was able to hit it out in the outfield for a base hit.
“For the guys to come back and tie it up in the first inning, it was big. I had to hold it down after that and make pitches.”
Texas broke the deadlock with four in the third.
Chirinos put Texas up with a home run to lead off the third. Beltre’s two-out double was the first of three consecutive hits, which included designated hitter Prince Fielder’s run-scoring single and Napoli’s two-run smash to left.
