Kinsler, Andrus lead Rangers past Tigers 7-3

[July 29, 2009]  ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -- Ian Kinsler drove in three runs, rookie Elvis Andrus homered and had three hits, and the Texas Rangers beat the Detroit Tigers 7-3 on Tuesday night.

Kinsler, who was in a huge funk at the plate that shrunk his batting average from .272 to .242., highlighted a four-run second with a two-run triple. Kinsler had just 16 hits in his last 103 at-bats.

The Rangers have taken two straight from the Tigers after dropping the previous seven meetings and have won eight of nine overall.

Detroit is 4-8 since the All-Star break and its sputtering offense has scored three runs or less eight times in that span.

Ex-Tiger Jason Grilli (1-1) pitched two perfect innings of relief with three strikeouts to pick up the decision. The Rangers bullpen shut out the Tigers on one hit over the final five innings.

Normally a long reliever, Doug Mathis made his second start of the season and sixth of his career for Texas in place of Vicente Padilla, still weak from swine flu and scratched from the start about 3 1-2 hours prior to game time.

Mathis allowed three runs and six hits in four innings. He had been tough out of the bullpen, pitching 17 scoreless innings in relief since he was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City on June 3.

But Detroit ended Mathis' consecutive scoreless innings streak at 18 with a three-run second on Ramon Santiago's RBI double and Dusty Ryan's two-run single.

Texas answered with a four-run second off rookie Luke French -- all with two out -- on Andrus' run-scoring single, Kinsler's two-run triple and Michael Young's RBI double. Kinsler's sacrifice fly in the fourth and slumping Josh Hamilton's RBI single in the fifth ended an 0-for-17 slide to make it 6-3.

For the second straight night, Hamilton started in the No. 7 slot rather than his customary No. 3, as manager Ron Washington tried to take the pressure off the struggling slugger.

French (1-2) allowed six runs and eight hits over five innings of his fifth big-league start.

Andrus homered leading off the sixth against Zach Miner to extend the Rangers' lead to 7-3.

Notes: Kinsler left the game before the seventh with a left hamstring problem, replaced by Omar Vizquel. ... Home plate umpire Andy Fletcher warned both dugouts in the seventh after Texas reliever Eddie Guardado threw an inside pitch to Adam Everett. Miner had thrown a pitch behind Kinsler in the sixth, drawing a reaction from the Texas dugout. ... Santiago fouled a ball off his right shin in the fourth and was replaced at SS by Everett in the bottom of the inning. Santiago is listed as day-to-day. ... Andrus, who's 20, stole his 20th base in the fourth, becoming the 10th player in major league history to reach the mark before his 21st birthday.

[Associated Press]

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