Tigers Thwart Sweep - 4-1

Ex-Rangers' catcher Gerald Laird (above) hit a two-run homer and Tigers starter Max Scherzer pitched seven innings of shutout baseball as Detroit snapped a seven-game losing streak. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

With the Texas Rangers' (55-40) offense shut-down for most of the night, and starter Colby Lewis (L, 9-6) struggling in the seventh inning, the Detroit Tigers (49-44) were able to salvage a victory in the final game of the three-game series. Texas, however, still finishes it's 7-game road trip with a 5-2 record as the team heads home to take on the division rival Los Angeles Angels.

"We went 5-2 and won two series against Boston and Detroit, so we're going home with our heads' high," manager Ron Washington said. "Those aren't two teams that you can just expect to beat every night, and we won both series."

Tigers' starter Max Scherzer (W, 7-7) pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing only four hits while striking out five batters. Scherzer mixed his pitches well and kept Rangers' hitters guessing all-game long and kept the Tigers from reaching an 8-game losing streak, which would have been the team's longest in six years.

"He pitched a great ballgame," Tigers' manager Jim Leyland said. "That's what it takes to break a string like this."

The Rangers were able to make a push, albeit a small one, in the ninth inning against Tigers' closer Jose Valverde. Texas had runners on second and third with no outs in the inning and Josh Hamilton at the plate. Hamilton grounded out to short, scoring one run, but a Nelson Cruz strikeout and David Murphy groundout ended the threat.

Although the Rangers have shown themselves to be a good team, you can't win them all in this league and this was just a case of Texas running into a good, young pitcher on a roll at home.

Now, the Rangers travel back to Arlington to take on the team sitting in second in the American League West, the Los Angeles Angels. L.A. is five games back of Texas at 51-46 and have won four of six games since the All-Star break. The Angels are 24-26 on the road this season, which is tied for the third-most wins on the road in the Majors this season.

Game one of the four-game set is Thursday night with a scheduled 7:05 p.m. start time. Each Ace of the rotation, Cliff Lee (8-4, 2.59 ERA) and Jared Weaver (9-5, 3.16), will get the start for their respective teams. Lee leads the American League in ERA, while Weaver leads in strikeouts (147).

News and Notes:

• Ian Kinsler went 1 for 3 for the game with a run scored and has the longest current hitting streak in baseball at 13 straight.

(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)