Year of the Napoli ‘Cruz-ing’ on to the World Series, Texas Rangers go 3 – 1 in American League Championship Series (Part 2 Conclusion)
The Texas Rangers were excited on Wednesday, October 12, when they went back on top of the American League Championship Series with a 3 – 1 lead against the Detroit Tigers at the Comerica Park in Detroit. The winner came in the eleventh inning of Game 4.
The Texans were on the prowl and they made Detroit closer Jose Valverde pay for pitching poorly.
The players responsible for the winner were none other than Mike Napoli and Nelson Cruz. The two top hitters at the Rangers’ side made all the difference as both teams fought a tie to the eleventh inning.
Matt Harrison provided the necessary cover needed to keep the Rangers in the chase while Rick Porcello did his work for the Tigers to put the Detroit team in the game. The scoring trail kicked off with a double from Miguel Cabrera. Harrison grounded out
Ramon Santiago in the third to kick off the inning. Brandon Inge then managed a single to the left.
Austin Jackson flew out and Ryan Raburn singled to the centre. All that was needed was a push home and Miguel Cabrera provided that initiative with a double to the deep left. Both Inge and Raburn scored from the play to put the Tigers 2 – 0 on top.
The game however had just begun. Texas rallied its troops in the top sixth for a comeback. David Murphy kicked off the inning with a single to the left. Yorvit Torrealba popped out but Ian Kinsler came in to double to the deep left, leading Murphy in for
the first run. While Porcello faced Elvis Andrus, Kinsler stole third base.
Andrus then singled to the centre to put Kinsler through for the equalizer. Andrus moved to the second later on when Josh Hamilton flew out and Porcello made a throwing error. Michael Young came to put the Rangers on 3 – 2 as he led Andrus home with a single
to the centre.
The Rangers were looking strong now and there was a chance to close the game on 3 – 2 but the Tigers clinched an equalizing run when Inge smashed a home run against Alexi Ogando in the bottom seventh. The game was tied at 3 – 3 and it was the Rangers who
persevered at the end.
Jose Valverde struggled against the Rangers in the top eleventh and Hamilton kicked off the inning with a deep right double. After Young struck out swinging, Adrian Beltre was intentionally walked. Mike Napoli came in to substantiate his ‘year of the Napoli’
slogan as he managed a single to the centre, driving Hamilton home for a tie breaking run.
However that was not all that happened. Nelson Cruz sealed the victory with a three run homer that saw the Rangers walk out of the game 7 – 3. Similar to Game 2 when Cruz smashed a walk off grand slam victory, he did well today against the Tigers in Game
4 with a three – run homer.
From the look of things, ‘the year of the Napoli’ is ‘Cruz-ing’ to the World Series, this year. Just one more win and the Rangers are through.
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