The Rangers led 5-0 when heavy showers forced a 29-minute rain delay in the top of the fourth inning Thursday night. The first batter after the delay hit a two-run homer to give the Rangers a 7-0 lead, but it was all Detroit Tigers after that.
The Tigers had the winning run at the plate with no one out in the ninth inning, but closer Keone Kela retired the next three batters to finish off a 7-5 victory and snap a three-game losing streak.
The Rangers didn’t arrive in Detroit until the early hours of Thursday morning after an extra-inning loss to the Astros the previous night.
”We had a tough night last night and some tough travel, but our guys showed up tonight,” Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. ”We needed to get a win to gain some momentum and gain some confidence.”
Yovani Gallardo (3-0) got the win, giving up four runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked one and struck out two while winning his third straight start.
Kela allowed a run in the ninth – the first he’s given up in 12 career innings against Detroit – before finishing off his 21st save.
Matthew Boyd allowed a season-high seven runs and seven hits in four innings. He is 0-3 with a 10.59 ERA in his last four starts.
”Everyone goes through good stretches and bad stretches at this level, and a lot of it depends on luck,” he said. ”Once the game is over, you have to put it away and focus on getting ready to take the ball in five days.”
Tigers bench coach Steve Liddle, who managed while Ron Gardenhire recovered from the heat exhaustion that caused him to leave Wednesday’s loss in Chicago, wasn’t pleased with Boyd’s pitch selection.
”He never threw his fastball, so they were sitting on his soft stuff all night,” Liddle said. ”They saw what he was doing and made adjustments, but he never made any adjustments to counter that.
”You can’t throw the same thing over and over and expect to win games.”
Detroit lost is third straight and dropped to 2-14 since June 17.
”We were down a touchdown early and we had the winning run at the plate in the ninth,” Liddle said. ”That’s something positive we can take from this.”
The Rangers took a 2-0 lead in the second inning when Gallo became one of the few players to clear Comerica Park’s right-field stands with a home run. Gallo came into the game hitting .191 with 20 homers.
Nomar Mazara made it 3-0 with an RBI grounder in the third, and Tigers third baseman Ronny Rodriguez misplayed Adrian Beltre’s grounder to allow a fourth run to score.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s fourth-inning RBI single extended the Rangers’ lead to 5-0 on the final pitch before a 29-minute rain delay. The game had started 15 minutes late due to a brief rain shower.
On Boyd’s fifth pitch after play resumed, Guzman hit a two-run homer to put Texas ahead by seven.
The Tigers made it 7-3 in the bottom of the fourth on RBI singles by John Hicks, Jim Adduci and Rodriguez Nate Solder Color Rush Jersey , but Gallardo got Jose Iglesias to hit into an inning-ending double play.
”It’s tough coming out of the rain delay,” Gallardo said. ”We were ready to start the game and it rained, and then I had to stay loose through the second one. I gave up those three runs, but we got out of it.”
Goodrum homered in the sixth to make it 7-4.
Rodriguez started the ninth with an infield single and Iglesias reached on an error by third baseman Jurickson Profar. Victor Reyes followed with an RBI single to make it 7-5, but pinch-hitter Jeimer Candelario bounced into a force at second.
Kela struck out Nicholas Castellanos and retired Goodrum to end the game.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rangers: RHP Chris Martin (groin) was placed on the 10-day disabled list and RHP Ricardo Rodriguez was recalled from Triple-A Round Rock. … LHP Martin Perez (elbow) was scheduled to make his third rehab start for Round Rock on Thursday. Perez has not pitched for the Rangers this season after elbow surgery.
Tigers: Gardenhire was told by doctors to stay in the air-conditioned clubhouse with the heat index approaching 100 degrees at game time. Temperatures are forecast to be much cooler in Detroit on Friday. … RHP Drew VerHagen (broken nose) is expected to make one more rehab appearance for Triple-A Toledo before rejoining the Tigers.
BANISTER’S MILESTONE
The win was Banister’s 300th as a manager in his 574th game, making him the fastest manager to 300 wins in Rangers history. ”It’s a nice milestone for the organization and the ball club,” he said. ”I’ve been fortunate enough to be granted a great opportunity here.”
UP NEXT
Bartolo Colon (5-5, 4.76) will try to break a tie with Dennis Martinez for most wins by a pitcher born in Latin America when he starts against the Tigers on Friday. Colon is the last active major-league player to have played at Tiger Stadium, which closed in 1999. Jordan Zimmermann (3-0, 3.91) is scheduled to start for Detroit.
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Desperate to win after an emotional day at Citi Field, the New York Mets sent just the right man to the plate in the 10th inning.
Wilmer Flores singled home the decisive run and the Mets stopped their seven-game losing streak Tuesday night, beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-3 hours after general manager Sandy Alderson stepped down because his cancer has returned.
”We really wanted to focus in and just make sure that we bounce back today, of all days, and play a little bit better,” outfielder Michael Conforto said. ”I think we showed a little fight there.”
In a game that briefly got testy following a hard slide at second base, Conforto hit a tying homer and Flores had three RBIs for the Mets (32-45), who won for only the second time in 16 home games. They had dropped 24 of 30 overall during a maddening skid that’s wiped out an 11-1 start to the season.
New York has three walk-off wins this year and Flores provided the final swing on all of them. He leads the majors with nine walk-off RBIs since 2014, matching David Wright for the most in Mets history.
”It was tough being out there playing Kareem Martin Color Rush Jersey , but you’ve got to concentrate,” Flores said. ”Sandy is one of us and we support him 100 percent and hopefully he’ll get better.”
Before the game, players said the 70-year-old Alderson broke down a bit as he addressed the team in the clubhouse. During the surprise news conference that followed, his voice quavered when he spoke about his illness .
He and chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon announced that Alderson is taking a leave of absence. Alderson said his prognosis is good but he doesn’t expect to return to the job, partly because he’s ”not sure coming back is warranted.”
Assistant general manager John Ricco and special assistants J.P. Ricciardi and Omar Minaya will run the club’s baseball operations in the absence of Alderson, diagnosed with cancer at the end of the 2015 season – when the Mets reached the World Series. Back then, he had surgery and underwent chemotherapy but kept working full-time.
”Honestly, I’m here – we’re all here – because he believed in us,” Mets pitcher Steven Matz said. ”And I think for me personally, especially now under these circumstances, I want to prove that he was right. So yeah, there was definitely I would say extra emotion out there hearing that news.”
Both dugouts and bullpens emptied in the eighth when tempers flared after a clean slide by Josh Harrison prevented the Mets from turning an inning-ending double play.
Harrison went straight into the bag, forcing second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera to jump over him as he made a weak, one-hop relay to first base that was too late.
”I don’t think I even touched him,” Harrison said. ”Broke up a double play without touching the guy or hurting the guy. At the end of the day, I think that’s playing the game the right way.”
Mets reliever Jeurys Familia said something to Harrison, though, and the two began jawing back and forth. As players rushed onto the field Cody Latimer Color Rush Jersey , Familia and Harrison – a second baseman himself – were kept apart. Cabrera sought out Harrison and gave him a big hug during the brief skirmish, an obvious acknowledgment he had no problem with the slide.
”It’s over and done with,” Harrison said. ”I think what (Familia) saw was just the latter part. He might have turned around and saw Cabrera hobbling. It wasn’t anything due to me contacting him.”
No punches were thrown, and Familia was pumped when he pitched out of a bases-loaded threat .
”Maybe it was a good thing we cleared the benches. Showed a little fight and fire,” Mets manager Mickey Callaway said.
Conforto drew a leadoff walk in the 10th from Steven Brault (5-2) and went to second when Todd Frazier singled. Cabrera popped up a bunt for the first out, but Flores hit a shot just inside third base to knock in Conforto.
Tim Peterson (1-0) got three outs on five pitches for his first major league win.
Gregory Polanco homered for the second consecutive game and had an RBI single for the Pirates, who have dropped six of seven.
Conforto went deep in the seventh, connecting off reliever Edgar Santana. New York also got seven effective innings from Matz and some fine defense from 37-year-old right fielder Jose Bautista .
Flores grounded a two-run single with two outs in the first to put the Mets ahead. They capitalized on a pair of wild pitches by Chad Kuhl that got past catcher Elias Diaz, who also committed two errors in the inning.
Pittsburgh threw four wild pitches, all in the first six innings.
ROSTER MOVE
New York recalled RHP Gerson Bautista from Triple-A Las Vegas and optioned INF Luis Guillorme to its top farm team. Guillorme made two costly errors at third base Monday.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Pirates: Kuhl was removed after four innings with right forearm discomfort. … Rookie OF Austin Meadows was hit in the helmet by an 84 mph changeup from Matz in the first inning. Meadows was checked by manager Clint Hurdle and a trainer, but stayed in the game.
Mets: OF Brandon Nimmo, hit by a pitch on the right hand Sunday, came off the bench for the second consecutive game. This time he got a chance to swing, but fouled out as a pinch-hitter.
UP NEXT
Pirates RHP Ivan Nova (4-5, 3.98 ERA) starts the series finale Wednesday night against RHP Zack Wheeler (2-6, 4.85).
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