Rangers 7, Tigers 5: Josh Hamilton homered for the second straight game and Yu Darvish struck out 10 to remain perfect in Arlington as Texas rallied past Detroit on an extremely humid evening.
Ian Kinsler went deep for the first time since June 8 for the Rangers, who overcame a four-RBI performance from Prince Fielder and 103-degree temperatures to improve to 9-2 in their last 11 games.
With Texas trailing 3-1 in the fourth, Michael Young plated Adrian Beltre with a triple into the left-center field gap. After Nelson Cruz tied the game with an RBI single, he scored after sliding his hand under the tag of catcher Alex Avila on Yorvit Torrealba's base hit to shallow right field. Brandon Snyder added an RBI single to cap the scoring in the frame.
The offense proved to be enough for Darvish (10-4), who improved to 7-0 at home this season. The Japanese star allowed four runs in seven innings and Joe Nathan secured the win and notched his 17th save by striking out a pair in the ninth.
After ripping a two-run double into the left-center field gap in the first inning, Fielder led off the fourth by venturing in the same direction. The slugger muscled a 1-2 breaking ball from Darvish over the wall in left-center for his 12th homer. Fielder added a run-scoring groundout in the eighth inning.
Activated from the disabled list prior to the game, rookie Drew Smyly (2-3) permitted six runs on eight hits in 4 2/3 innings to take the loss.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Hamilton's 24th homer ties him with Toronto's Jose Bautista for the major-league lead. ... Smyly was making his first start since June 10 after nursing a severe blister on his left middle finger. ... Darvish yielded one run on a season-low two hits - albeit with five walks - in a 10-3 win over the Tigers on April 19. ... The Tigers were attempting to reach .500 for the first time since they were 18-18 on May 15.
Detroit | Texas | |
Drew Smyly | Player | Yu Darvish |
Loss | W/L | Win |
4.2 | IP | 7.0 |
3 | Strikeouts | 10 |
8 | Hits | 4 |
11.57 | ERA | 5.14 |
Detroit | Texas | |
Prince Fielder | Player | Ian Kinsler |
2 | Hits | 2 |
4 | RBI | 1 |
1 | HR | 1 |
6 | TB | 5 |
.500 | Avg | .500 |