Rangers Tame Tigers to Move Two Games Ahead
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October 11, 2011 TheFreshOutlook  |
Texas Rangers masterminded a 7-3 victory over Detroit to move 2-0 ahead in ALCS as Cardinals tie NLCS with Brewers.
The Rangers were losing for most of this encounter up until the bottom of the seventh after an explosive third inning from the Detroit Tigers, but an emphatic eleventh saw the Rangers come from behind to move 2-0 up in the American League Championship Series (ALCS).
Elvis Andrus hit a single in the first inning for the Rangers which preceded an RBI double from Josh Hamilton and a two-out double by Adrian Beltre to put them 2-0 up.
But in the third inning the Tigers hit back and a three-run homer from Ryan Raburn saw the tables turned at 3-2 to the Tigers and Rangers’ starter Derek Holland unceremoniously pulled after just two and 2/3 innings.
The relief combined well, though, and shut out the Tigers attack for much of the remainder of this tie. It was now up to the batters to do their bit.
Step up Nelson Cruz. The big hitter can always be relied on to slug his team out of a tight spot and this was no different. He levelled the match at the bottom of the seventh with a home run off of Tigers’ starter Max Scherzer.
After sending the match in to extra innings, he then topped his first showing with a piece of Major League Baseball history in the eleventh.
Miller Park was stunned when the 31-year-old from the Dominican Republic hit the first ever walk-off grand slam in post season history that brought up the 7-3 victory.
Rangers fans will also want to take note that of the 21 teams who have taken a 2-0 lead in this fixture since 1985, 18 have gone on to make the World Series.
In the night’s other fixture in the National League Championship Series (NLCS), the St Louis Cardinals lambasted the Milwaukee Brewers 12-3 to level things up at 1-1 in the series.
A four-run seventh inning cemented the result for certain but the Cardinals led throughout and never really looked like losing despite the odd moment of drama.
The stands began to empty at Miller Park well before the end of the ninth inning, which gave a better indication of the comprehensiveness of this victory more than any scoreboard ever could.
It was the Brewers’ heaviest home loss of 2011, and was masterminded by the powerful batting performance of the Cards’ Albert Pujols.
With the next three fixtures at Busch Stadium the Cardinals will now be hopeful of asserting some control over the series and, hopefully, taking their place in the World Series to boot.
Pujols hammered a two-run homer in the first before hitting a two-run double to center in the third and an RBI double to right-center in the fifth as he was responsible for five of the Card’s first six runs. He later added another double for a 10-total-base evening against a pitching bullpen that had kept him particularly quiet throughout the regular season.
He also set or tied a number of records for good measure. His home run was the 14th of his post-season career, passing the previous franchise record set by Jim Edmonds. His five RBIs also gave him a League Championship Series (LCS) total of 23, which took another franchise record off of Edmonds. His three doubles set a new LCS record, while tying another franchise record, and his four extra-base hits tied another LCS record on a very productive night for the 31-year-old.
The Brewers and the Cardinals next do battle on Wednesday, with the Rangers and Tigers again taking to the field on Tuesday night.
By Leigh Gruffydd Sanders
[Image courtesy of Keith Allison]
