Youngsters Help Rangers Beat Tigers

ARLINGTON, Texas – It was supposed to be a night off for two of the Texas Rangers struggling young sluggers.

Instead, it turned out to be a slump-busting night of heroics for both.

And then another youngster, Ezequiel Duran, overshadowed them.

Duran’s solo, tie-breaking home run to left field in the eighth came on the 12th pitch of the at-bat and was enough to lead the Rangers past the Detroit Tigers, 8-3, Tuesday night at Globe Life Field.

Duran’s game-winning homer started a five-run inning that blew the game open and included an RBI double by Corey Seager and a two-run homer by Adolis García.

The offensive surge was set up, however, by a pair of clutch at-bats two innings earlier by Josh Jung and Leody Taveras. Both delivered pinch-hit RBI singles during a three-run sixth.

The win stopped the Rangers' (48-31) three-game losing streak. Their longest losing streak is four games (April 24-27).

The sixth-inning rally started with Nathaniel Lowe and García reaching on a walk and hit-by-pitch. Jonah Heim moved them both into scoring position with a groundout. Robbie Grossman scored Lowe with a sacrifice fly to center before Jung pinch-hit for Travis Jankowski.

Jung, who had 16 strikeouts in his previous 25 plate appearances, singled to right to score García. Duran reached on an infield single to first before Taveras, hitting for Josh Smith, drove in Jung with a go-ahead single to left. Taveras was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts Monday and had one RBI in his previous seven games.

The Tigers (34-44), however, tied it at 3-3 in the eighth on Spencer Torkelson’s homer to left off reliever Josh Sborz.

Rangers starter Martin Perez allowed two runs on four hits and two walks over six innings. Both runs came in the second as the first four Tigers singled to start the inning. Perez settled down and retired 14 of the last 16 batters he faced.

Grant Anderson closed it out with a perfect ninth and Sborz (4-2) earned the win after allowing a run on one hit over two innings of relief.

The teams play the third of the four-game set at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday.

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You can follow Stefan Stevenson on Twitter @StefanVersusTex.