ARLINGTON, Texas — — Adolis Garcia struck out during a Texas rally that failed in the ninth inning, ending his 23-game hitting streak as the Detroit Tigers edged the Rangers 9-8 on Sunday.
Garcia’s streak was the longest in the American League this season. He went 0-for-3 with two walks and fell one game short of matching the longest hitting streak ever by a Cuban-born major leaguer, set by Rafael Palmeiro in 1994 for Baltimore.
It was the fifth-longest streak in Rangers history.
“In the ninth inning, I wasn’t thinking about the streak,” Garcia said. “I was thinking about winning the match. I wanted to get something in the barrel.
“They tried to use the belt against me. They knew I wanted to hit and they didn’t throw anything easy at me,” he said.
Harold Castro drove in five runs and Jeimer Candelario homered for the second straight day as the Tigers built a 9-0 lead in the sixth inning. Detroit has won two of three against Texas and is 2-0-2 in its last four series.
“We won the series, so you always take that out of it,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said. “Obviously, the last few dates as a couple got away from us and we didn’t do ourselves many favors. But we get the last one and we’re going home on a happy flight.”
Corey Seager walked twice for Texas.
“No resignation,” Rangers interim manager Tony Beasley said. “We kept saying in the dugout, ‘Let’s go, let’s go.’ We fought until the end.”
Detroit took a 9-2 lead in the eighth before Garcia had an RBI groundout and Kole Calhoun hit a two-run homer — his first since July 9.
With the score 9-5, Marcus Semien hit an RBI double off Gregory Soto and Seager hit a two-run homer. With a runner on second, Joe Jimenez induced Garcia and pulled Calhoun on a fly to deep center for his second save.
Castro had a two-run single in the fourth and a three-run double in the sixth.
Candelario hit a two-run homer in the second after freshman Kerry Carpenter had an RBI double. Candelario homered in Detroit’s 11-2 win Saturday and narrowly missed another walk on Saturday with a double off the right-field wall.
Carpenter, who made his big league debut on Aug. 10, had his second three-hit game with two doubles and a single.
Drew Hutchison (2-7) got his first win since July 5th, pitching 5 1/3 innings. He allowed back-to-back solo homers to Seager and Nathaniel Lowe in the sixth.
Tigers starting second baseman Kody Clemens, son of seven-time Cy Young winner Roger Clemens, walked with the bases loaded in the third inning in his first home state start.
Kohei Arihara (1-2) lasted just 3 1/3 innings after delivering his first quality big league start last Sunday, when he shut out Minnesota over six innings. Arihara gave up six runs on eight hits, two walks and struck out a batter.
EYES FOR TEXAS
Tigers rookie CF Riley Greene had two singles, two runs and a walk to raise his batting average in five games this season against Texas to .450. He made his big league debut at home against the Rangers on June 18 with two hits and two walks.
Greene is hitting everyone lately. He has multiple hits in six of his last seven games and is hitting .467.
SHORT HOPS
The Tigers, who entered last in the majors, have scored six or more runs in four straight games for the first time since July 3-6, 2019 — a season in which they finished 47-114. … Seager hit his 27th and 28th home runs and Lowe his 22nd, both career highs. Lowe has five in his last seven games, seven in his last 10. … Tigers right fielder Victor Reyes doubled and singled to extend his hitting streak to 12 games.
COACH ROOM
Tigers: RHP Michael Pineda (right arm strain) allowed two runs in five innings Sunday on four hits and no walks in what should be his final rehab outing for Triple-A Toledo.
NEXT
The next game of both teams will be on Tuesday night at home. Tigers RHP Mike Manning (1-1, 2.37 ERA) will aim for his second straight win against Seattle RHP George Kirby (5-3, 3.32). Rangers RHP Dane Dunning (3-6, 4.19) will make his third start against Houston this season without a decision.
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