Monday, September 15, 2008 , Updated
Texas Rangers 11, Detroit Tigers 8
ARLINGTON — The Texas Rangers won in front of a justifiably-empty stadium Monday night, defeating the Detroit Tigers 11-8 at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. The win snapped a two-game losing streak, and improved Texas to 74-77 on the season.
Photo not provided by the Texas Rangers
The Rangers now have just 72 more wins than the Cowboys, and are losing ground fast
The announced attendance was 13,536 but seemed considerably inflated, as the game went up against the Dallas Cowboys' dramatic Monday-night win over the hated Philadelphia Eagles. Still, those few hardcore Rangers fans in attendance got to see a highly promising glimpse of the future --at least, offensively.
Rangers rookie Taylor Teagarden once again led the way, going 2-for-4 with a grand slam and an RBI double, knocking in five RBIs. Teagarden now has 17 RBI in his first 12 career games, is hitting .361 and leads the team in almost every major offensive category in the month of September.
The grand slam, Teagarden's career first, came in the bottom of the sixth inning and put the Rangers up 7-5, while the double in the eighth tied the game at 8-8, before Teagarden scored the game-winning run off a Michael Young single two batters later.
Travis Metcalf also had a good day, hitting a three-run shot off troubled Detroit starter Dontrell Willis in the fourth. Marlon Byrd also contributed with a game-clinching two-run triple in the bottom of the eighth.
Rangers starter Brandon McCarthy appeared to have sustained a finger injury after recording just two outs in the first inning, and was replaced by Luis Mendoza. Frank Francisco pitched a scoreless ninth for the win.
Posted by Todd M.
