Rangers soar as Cruz's homer poaches Tigers
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Texas Rangers' Nelson Cruz hits a tworun home run against the Detroit Tigers in the 14th inning of their MLB game in Detroit on Monday. Texas won 8-6. |
Nelson Cruz belted a two-run homer in the 14th inning to lift the AL West-leading Texas Rangers to an 8-6 victory on Monday and hand the reeling Detroit Tigers their sixth loss in a row.
Cruz crushed a high outside fastball over the wall down the right-field line off reliever Enrique Gonzalez, scoring Josh Hamilton ahead of him for the winning margin.
"It was starting to rain, and I was getting hungry," Cruz joked. "It was a great feeling to see that ball go over the fence, especially since we hadn't scored since the seventh."
Closer Neftali Feliz set the Tigers down in the bottom of the 14th to earn his 25th save and deliver a victory to Matt Harrison (2-1), who pitched four innings of shutout relief. Gonzalez (0-1) took the loss.
The teams combined for 10 runs over the first five innings, including two home runs from Detroit's Miguel Cabrera before the pitchers held sway. The Tigers tied the game 6-6 with a run in the bottom of the eighth.
"It was a long night for everyone," Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. "We had a couple opportunities to win the game, but we didn't get it done."
Hamilton went 4-for-6 for the Rangers, who also enjoyed a home run from Ian Kinsler in a 19-hit attack that propelled them to their fourth win in five starts since the All-Star break. They now lead the AL West by five games over the Los Angeles Angels.
Cruz finished 3-for-6 with three runs batted in for the winners.
Detroit (48-43) fell to two games behind AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox.
Rangers reliever Dustin Nippert was one of two players to leave the game early after he was struck in the right temple by a line drive from the bat of Austin Jackson in the sixth inning. Nippert appeared stunned but was able to walk off the field unassisted.
"He's OK," Washington said. "It looked a lot worse than it actually was."
Detroit lost third baseman Brandon Inge in the third inning to a broken pinky finger after he was hit on the left hand by a pitch from Rangers starter Scott Feldman.
Elsewhere, it was: Red Sox 2, Athletics 1; Indians 10, Twins 4; Royals 5, Blue Jays 4, 10 innings; White Sox 6, Mariners 1; and Rays 8, Orioles 1.
In St Louis, Albert Pujols' two-run homer in the fifth inning began a barrage of four long balls in a span of six at-bats as the Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies 8-4 in the National League.
Pujols hit his 22nd homer and first since the All-Star break for a 5-4 lead. Pujols also doubled and had a run-scoring groundout.
Rookie Allen Craig added his first career homer and Skip Schumaker also went long in a five-run fifth.
Also, it was: Giants 5, Dodgers 2; Marlins 9, Rockies 8; Reds 7, Nationals 2; Diamondbacks 13, Mets 2; Astros 11, Cubs 5; and Brewers 3, Pirates 1.
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