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Fresh off call-up from Round Rock Express, Grant Anderson dazzles in Rangers debut
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DETROIT (AP) — Reliever Grant Anderson won in an overpowering major league debut and the Texas Rangers beat the Detroit Tigers 10-6 on Tuesday night to improve to 35-19, the best record in franchise history at the one-third mark.
Anderson stuck out seven of the nine batters he faced after taking over for starter Martín Pérez in the fifth inning.
“In all my years, I can’t think of a better debut than what he just did,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “He came into a one-run game with the tying run on second base and got eight outs — seven strikeouts. That’s just so impressive.”
Texas second baseman Marcus Semien extended his hitting streak to a career-best 19 games with a fifth-inning single. Jonah Heim drove in four runs, Josh Jung homered and had three runs and Aroldis Garcia had four hits and three runs.
“Our offense really came through when we needed them tonight,” Bochy said. “It's good to see Jonah swinging the bat like that, but it was everyone up and down the lineup.”
Miguel Cabrera had three hits and drove in two runs for Detroit. Cabrera passed Ken Griffey Jr. for 15th place with 5,272 total bases.
“Miggy isn't going to enjoy something like that, because we didn't win the game,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “But we love to see him contributing like he did tonight.”
The Rangers took a 1-0 lead in the second off Alex Faedo (1-3) on back-to-back doubles by Jung and Heim, and Cabrera tied it with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning.
Jake Rogers led off the third with a homer and Spencer Torkelson put Detroit up 3-1 with a double in the inning.
Texas scored three runs in the fourth. Heim made it 3-2 with a run-scoring grounder and Travis Jankowski put the Rangers ahead with a two-run double. Cabrera, though, scored from second on Zach Short's single to make it 4-4 in the bottom of the inning.
After Semien singled in the fifth, he scored on Nathaniel Lowe's one-out single before Heim's two-run single put the Rangers ahead 7-4.
Andy Ibanez's homer and Cabrera's RBI double made it 7-6 in the bottom of the fifth, but Anderson came in to strike out the first four batters he faced.
“You could tell he was nervous during his warm-up pitches, so I just told him to relax and throw strikes," Heim said. “He throws a bunch of pitches, so it is tough for hitters to know what they are going to get.”
Jung hit his 12th homer to extend the lead to 9-6 in the seventh. Jung extended his hitting streak to 13 games, three short of the Rangers’ rookie record set by Elvis Andrus in 2009.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Tigers CF Riley Greene left in the third inning with left leg discomfort. ... The Tigers placed LHP Eduardo Rodriguez on the 15-day injured list because of a ruptured pulley tendon in his left index finger. Rodriguez, who is expected to miss several starts, becomes the fourth member of the rotation on the IL. RHP Matt Manning (foot) threw a bullpen session before the game while LHP Tarik Skubal (elbow) threw live BP, but neither are close to a return.
FAMILIAR FACE
The Tigers acquired OF Jake Marisnick from the Chicago White Sox for cash considerations. Marisnick played for A.J. Hinch in Houston from 2015-19, winning a World Series in 2017 although injuries kept him off the postseason roster. Marisnick will be activated before Wednesday's game.
UP NEXT
The teams finish the three-game series Wednesday, with Detroit's Joey Wentz (1-5, 7.80) against Dane Dunning (4-0, 1.67). Dunning was activated from the paternity list Tuesday.