Beltre, Banister tossed before Rangers squeeze past Tigers

Adrian Beltre and manager Jeff Banister were ejected in the matter of a few moments in the fifth inning Sunday, and neither one seems to understand why.

Beltre claimed innocence afterward, saying that Prince Fielder caught the rabbit ears of plate ump Adam Hamari, who mistook the wolfing as coming from Beltre.

Banister was tossed, he thinks, by crew chief Ron Kulpa as he tried to protect Beltre from any further punishment.

The umpire-generated chaos was a pleasant side note for the Texas Rangers afterward. They did win the game after all.

Three newcomers, led by left-hander Cole Hamels, made significant contributions as the Rangers rallied past the Detroit Tigers for a 4-2 victory that sealed the four-game series and ensured at least two more days as the second wild-card team in the American League.

Hamels allowed two runs in six innings, Mike Napoli homered in the eighth, and Sam Dyson worked a dominant eighth as the Rangers improved to five games above .500 (64-59) for the first time since June 20.

“Any time you’re making a big splash in that trade atmosphere and to keep getting guys in August, that says a lot about momentum that we believe we have and the front office believes we have,” Hamels said.

“Now it’s just for us to actually go out and deliver the type of play that we’re capable of doing. Not trying to get too carried away, just staying within ourselves. If we stay within ourselves, we have that belief and that confidence that we can go out there and put some big winning streaks together and find ourselves in the best possible position on the last day of the season.”

Chris Gimenez, on the team last year but on it only since July 31 this season, homered for the Rangers’ first run, and Mitch Moreland had the go-ahead two-run double in the sixth inning.

That came an inning after Beltre, playing third base, and then Banister got the heave from the umpires. Kulpa, who was working first base, said that Beltre was unaware that he had been ejected by Hamari and then continued to bark at Kulpa.

Banister got tossed because he “didn’t get him [Beltre] into the locker room,” Kulpa told a pool reporter.

Beltre said that Prince Fielder, who wasn’t in the lineup, was the one who caught Hamari’s attention from the dugout after a disputed strike call against Ryan Strausborger with no outs and Rougned Odor at second after a double.

Fielder confirmed that it was him, even yelling out to Hamari his jersey number.

“My teammate over there, Prince, was the one who said something,” Beltre said. “I guess I was the ugly one, so he threw me out.”

Hamels did his part early on, snuffing out any momentum after Detroit scored a first-inning run on a wild throw by Shin-Soo Choo and working around a one-out walk and hit in the second.

In the fourth, Detroit took a 2-1 lead after James McCann tripled with one out and scored as Jose Iglesias followed with a single. Tyler Collins, from Justin Northwest High School, also singled to put runners at first and third.

Hamels, though, struck out Rajai Davis and got Ian Kinsler to fly out to center field.

“He’s pitching very competitively,” Banister said. “The guy is experienced and knows how to limit the damage. I think there was none bigger than the first-and-third. That sequence of pitches and outs were big early.”

The win, the Rangers’ ninth in their past 11 games, allowed them to stay a game ahead of Baltimore for the second wild-card spot and four games behind Houston in the AL West.

The Rangers are off Monday before opening a six-game homestand with three games apiece against Toronto, leaders of the American League East, and the Orioles next weekend.

“Every game is important,” Moreland said. “We try not to look at the standings and just take care of what we can control.”

This story was originally published August 23, 2015 at 4:50 PM with the headline "Beltre, Banister tossed before Rangers squeeze past Tigers."