The Rangers went into game five, up 3-1, and needing just one win to get back to the World Series. Justin Verlander was the starter for the Tigers, and it would be a tall task to get past him.
We didn’t. But he wasn’t as infallible as normal. He did go 7.1 innings, and tossed a lot of pitches (133 total). But we did manage to get eight hits and three walks off of him, for a total of four earned runs. Most of our runs didn’t come until late, though. We technically were up early. 1-0 going into the bottom of the third, but that was it for a lead in this one. The game was tied 2-2 after five, but in the bottom of the sixth, it fell away.
The Tigers plated four in the bottom of the sixth, on a natural cycle by the team. Ryan Raburn led off with a single. Miguel Cabrera doubled to left, scoring Raburn. Victor Martinez rumled around for a triple, scoring Cabera, and finally Delmon Young homered.
The Tigers plated their final run in the 7th when Raburn homered off of Kohi Uehara, which reminded me a bit of Byung-Hung Kim giving up gopher balls to the Yankees in 2001. Anwyays, that was it for the Tigers.
The Rangers did make some noise coming back after that. The score was 7-2 after the 7th. The Rangers scored two in the 8th, when the Boomstick struck again for a two run shot. We scored another in the ninth, and had two men on after that with the go ahead run on the plate, but didn’t finish the job.
Most of this game was the Rangers playing catch up, and while we got close, we couldn’t get it over the hump, and the Tigers won. Not too terribly surprising.
Rangers offensive highlights.. We had 10 hits overall, and five of ’em were extra base hits. Four doubles (Kinsler, Young, Murphy, & Hamilton) plus the Cruz home run. Everyone had at least one hit except Beltre & Moreland who took ofers.
As I said in the other loss, I never expected a sweep. I kind of always figured Rangers in 6 or 7. This series has gone quite well, it’s been tight, well played (mostly) baseball. With the right set of breaks, the Tigers could have easily been up 3-1 at this point. No doubt.