Rangers Rally For Win Against Tigers

{fshare id=3852}

ARLINGTON, Texas — Miguel Cabrera’s three home runs were not enough on Sunday night as the Texas Rangers downed the Detroit Tigers 11-8 at Rangers Ballpark.

Texas trailed 7-5 entering the bottom half of the sixth after giving up a 5-4 lead to begin the inning.

David Murphy had the key hit in the Rangers’ four-run rally in the sixth inning.

Leonys Martin grounded into a fielder’s choice and Elvis Andrus drew a walk to place two on base for Murphy. Battling back from a 0-2 count to bring the count full, Murphy sent the sixth pitch of the at-bat into the first row of the right-field seats for a three-run homer to push Texas into the lead.

“I just basically reacted and it got in on me a little bit but I got enough of it,” Murphy said. “It was a fastball in. Not knowing exactly where it was, I felt I got just enough of it when I got contact to feel like it was going to go out of the park.”

The Rangers continued the rally by loading the bases on back-to-back singles by Lance Berkman and Adrian Beltre followed by a walk of Nelson Cruz. Mitch Moreland stepped to the plate and

added an insurance run on an infield single to short.

The inning ended in the next at-bat as Geovany Soto’s grand slam bid fell short at the warning track.

Cabrera knocked a three-run home run to begin his second career three-homer game in the third. The Tigers third baseman continued with a solo shot in the fifth and another in the eighth, both traveling over the center-field wall.

“You have to tip your hat to the guy,” Rangers starting pitcher Derek Holland said. “The guy is swinging the bat hot right now. I tried to pitch around him and I caught the plate in his third time up. Overall, I don’t think it was as bad as it looked. You have to give a lot of credit to him.”

Cabrera finished with four hits in the contest, adding a single in the first to go along with his trio of homers and five RBIs.

A wild three innings between the fifth and seventh accounted for 14 runs between the two teams, Texas sending 10 across the plate.

“We didn’t stop the bleeding,” Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. “We had a couple of opportunities but we made some bad pitches late in the game.”

Texas battled back from a 4-1 deficit to take a 5-4 lead in the fifth.

Soto opened with a leadoff double followed by a single by Craig Gentry, pushing Soto to third. Soto came home on a ground out to short by Andrus. Murphy walked to give the Rangers two on base and Berkman singled up the middle to score Gentry.

“Soto led off a couple innings and started the fifth,” Leyland said. “He killed us this series. Not taking anything away from the other guys but quietly he was a big factor.”

The Rangers took the lead later in the fifth on Beltre’s blooper to short left field that bounced off Brayan Pena’s glove. Two runs scored on the double.

“It’s baseball,” Beltre said. “You can’t predict anything in baseball. I’m just happy that we ended up being on the winning side of a crazy game.”

Prince Fielder came up in the top of the sixth with the bases loaded and two outs after back-to-back singles by Pena and Omar Infante and an intentional walk to Cabrera.

Fielder knocked a double into the right-center-field gap to clear the bases and give Detroit its 7-5 lead.

Pitching was at a premium in the final game of the series. Neither starter lasted through the fifth.

Detroit starter Doug Fister departed after 4 2/3 innings, giving up nine hits and five earned runs on three strikeouts while Holland gave up eight hits and four earned runs in 4 2/3 innings for the Rangers.

Texas used five pitchers out of the bullpen before it got to its closer, Joe Nathan. Robbie Ross (2-0) earned the win with an inning pitched, giving up a hit and striking out two. Nathan worked around a leadoff walk to earn his 13th save of the season.

Beltre helped get the Rangers on the board in the second. He knocked a blooper to right field for a double, advanced on a groundout by Cruz and scored on a sacrifice fly to Moreland to right field.

Detroit took the lead in the top of the third with three consecutive hits, the last being Cabrera’s first-pitch, three-run homer that sailed into the Rangers bullpen in right-center field.

Cabrera added a solo shot to center in the top of the fifth, giving Detroit a 4-1 lead.

Share and Enjoy !

Shares