Texas Rangers 9, Detroit Tigers 1

by PegNews wire

ARLINGTON — The Texas Rangers got an extremely rare quality start from a pitcher Wednesday night against Detroit, defeating the Tigers 9-1 at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. The win snapped a three-game losing streak, and improved the Rangers to 63-65.

Texas had previously allowed seven or more runs in 10 of their last 11 games, but Rangers starter Kevin Millwood was up to the challenge. Millwood threw a complete game against the Tigers, giving up just one run and six hits over nine innings of work. Millwood, who had lost his last three decisions, walked one and struck out four en route to getting his personal record back to .500 at 7-7.

Millwood was definitely helped by some well-timed offensive firepower, as the Rangers hit a season-high six home runs in the game, five off of Tigers starter Nate Robertson. The Rangers even hit back-to-back home runs twice in the game, a feat they had not accomplished in almost twenty years.

Little-used third baseman Travis Metcalf led the charge, going 3-for-4 with a pair of home runs, including a two-run blast in the bottom of the second that got the Rangers started. Josh Hamilton also had three hits, including a solo home run and a triple, falling a double short of hitting for the cycle.

Brandon Boggs, Michael Young and Milton Bradley rounded out the home runs for the Rangers, while Marlon Byrd chipped in a pair of doubles for good measure.

Posted by Todd M.