Rangers climb in wild card while offense surges in sweep of Tigers
The Texas Rangers have been counting on their offense coming around.
Perhaps, in the middle of August, they’ve finally found their groove.
The Rangers battered Detroit Tigers pitching for the third consecutive game to wrap up a sweep with a 12-6 win Wednesday night at Globe Life Park.
Texas has won six of its past seven and nine of its past 13. The surge has put the Rangers back in the thick of the wild card race, now sitting two games out of the second wild-card spot currently held by the Los Angeles Angels. The Rangers have 10 games remaining against the Angels, including four to start a 10-game road trip next week.
The Rangers scored 28 runs on 39 hits in the three-game series, including seven home runs. Nomar Mazara, Adrian Beltre and Elvis Andrus each homered on Wednesday to lead the 17-hit night. That ties the club’s season high. Their 12 runs are the most since they scored 14 against the Twins on April 26. Andrus and Mazara combined to go 6 for 9 with seven RBIs. It’s the Rangers first sweep since they took three against the Rays in Tampa Bay three weeks ago.
Starter Cole Hamels battled through six innings, allowing four runs on eight hits, including two homers. Ian Kinsler led off the first with a homer to give Detroit a 1-0 lead. The Tigers added another run in the second to stretch the lead to 2-0.
Mazara’s two-run homer in the bottom of the second tied it, but Mikie Mahtook’s two-run homer in the third put the Tigers back up 4-2. Hamels left with a 9-4 lead and improved to 8-1 this season.
The Rangers responded again in the bottom half with Beltre’s two-run homer to tie it at 4-4. Hamels held the Tigers scoreless from the fourth through the sixth. In the fifth, Detroit had the bases loaded with one out but Hamels struck out John Hicks and forced Nicholas Castellanos to pop out to second baseman Rougned Odor to end the inning. Hamels escaped another jam in the sixth with two on with two out when he got Mahtook to ground out to end the inning.
Meanwhile, the Rangers’ offense kept cranking out the runs. Andrus homered in the fifth to give the Rangers a 5-4 lead. In the sixth, Texas blew it open with four runs, including Andrus’ two-run single. Andrus had four RBIs and scored three runs. Joey Gallo homered in the eighth to make it 11-4. It was Gallo’s 35th homer this season.
Stefan Stevenson: 817-390-7760, @StevensonFWST
Detroit | 112 | 000 | 002 | — | 6 | 11 | 2 |
Texas | 022 | 014 | 12x | — | 12 | 17 | 1 |
Detroit AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. | |
Kinsler 2b | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .248 |
Mahtook cf | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .300 |
Upton lf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .278 |
Romine ph | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .226 |
Cabrera dh | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .255 |
Machado ph-dh | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .293 |
Hicks 1b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .306 |
Castellanos 3b | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .246 |
McCann c | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .258 |
Presley rf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .311 |
Iglesias ss | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .251 |
Totals 35 | 6 | 11 | 5 | 7 | 7 | ||
Texas AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. | |
DeShields cf | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .282 |
Choo dh | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .250 |
Andrus ss | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | .299 |
Beltre 3b | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | .313 |
Mazara rf | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | .258 |
Gallo lf | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .211 |
Napoli 1b | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .195 |
Odor 2b | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .220 |
Chirinos c | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .235 |
Totals 40 | 12 | 17 | 12 | 7 | 10 | ||
E—Kinsler (7), Hicks (3), DeShields (2). LOB—Detroit 10, Texas 12. 2B—Cabrera (19), Castellanos 2 (22), Romine (10), Gallo (14), Chirinos (7). HR—Kinsler (12), off Hamels; Mahtook (9), off Hamels; Mazara (15), off Sanchez; Beltre (13), off Sanchez; Andrus (16), off Bell; Gallo (35), off Greene. RBIs—Kinsler (35), Mahtook 2 (29), Castellanos (68), Romine (20), Choo (53), Andrus 4 (64), Beltre 2 (52), Mazara 3 (77), Gallo (65), Chirinos (32). SB—Kinsler (9), Andrus (23). CS—Hicks (1), Odor (5). Runners left in scoring position—Detroit 5 (Mahtook, Castellanos 3, McCann); Texas 7 (DeShields, Andrus 2, Beltre, Napoli 3). RISP—Detroit 3 for 11; Texas 5 for 15. Runners moved up—Upton, Choo, Gallo. LIDP—Choo. GIDP—Presley, Napoli. DP—Detroit 2 (Iglesias, Kinsler, Hicks), (Bell, Kinsler); Texas 1 (Odor, Napoli).
Detroit | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | NP | ERA |
Sanchez | 2 1/3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 47 | 6.95 |
Bell, L, 0-1 | 2 1/3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 56 | 5.59 |
Jimenez | 1/3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 12.54 |
Stumpf | 1/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2.70 |
VerHagen | 1 1/3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 32 | 7.31 |
Wilson | 1/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3.88 |
Greene | 2/3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 20 | 2.75 |
Ferrell | 1/3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 3.86 |
Texas | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | NP | ERA |
Hamels, W, 8-1 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 101 | 3.48 |
Rodriguez | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 0.00 |
Marinez | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 37 | 4.10 |
Jimenez pitched to 3 batters in the 6th. Inherited runners-scored—Jimenez 1-0, Stumpf 3-1, VerHagen 2-2, Wilson 2-0, Ferrell 1-0. HBP—Jimenez (Chirinos), Marinez (McCann). Umpires—Home, Sean Barber; First, Ted Barrett; Second, Angel Hernandez; Third, John Tumpane. T—3:52. A—22,713 (48,114).
Rangers vs. White Sox
7:05 p.m. Thursday, FSSW
This story was originally published August 16, 2017 at 11:25 PM with the headline "Rangers climb in wild card while offense surges in sweep of Tigers."