David Murphy belted a home run for the second straight game and the Texas Rangers took another step toward a long-awaited division title with an 11-7 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday.

Texas won its seventh straight and lowered its magic number to clinch the AL West title to nine games. The Rangers are looking to win their first division title since 1999.

Detroit jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, but Texas responded with two runs in the second inning, two more in the third and four in the fourth.

Vladimir Guerrero and Ian Kinsler homered for the Rangers, who have Thursday off before starting a 10-game road trip against division rivals Seattle, Los Angeles and Oakland.

Guerrero launched a solo shot in the second to cut Detroit's lead to 2-1, Murphy belted a three-run blast to highlight the fourth-inning uprising and Kinsler homered to center in the seventh to cap the scoring.

Kinsler's homer came just after the Tigers pulled within 9-7 with two runs in the top of the seventh.

Colby Lewis (11-12) was not particularly sharp, but was the beneficiary of Texas' scoring binge and picked up the win. Lewis yielded five runs and four hits in six innings.

Armando Galarraga (4-6) took the loss, allowing eight runs and eight hits in 3 2/3 innings.