Texas MLB Capsules: Rangers top Tigers 8-0, improve to 5-1 since break

DETROIT — Tommy Hunter made Texas Rangers history.

Hunter became the first Ranger to pitch only as a starter and begin a season with seven wins and no losses, and Josh Hamilton hit another homer to help surging Texas beat the slumping Detroit Tigers 8-0 on Tuesday night.

“That’s a great accomplishment because you obviously want to win every game, but a lot of it has to do with the guys behind me,” he said. “You saw the plays they made, and they’ve done that every time I’ve been on the mound.

“They are the reason I’m 7-0, plus Josh keeps hitting homers every time I start.”

Hamilton hit his 23rd homer, Ian Kinsler cleared the fence for the second straight day — after doing it just four times this season — and David Murphy had a solo shot.

The AL West-leading Rangers are 5-1 since the All-Star break and are the only team in the majors with 50 wins since April 22.

“This is a good team,” Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. “That’s why they’re leading the division.”

Since the Tigers’ last day atop the AL Central, they have lost a season-high seven straight and have followed a trend during the Leyland era.

Detroit has had at least a .500 record before the break in each of Leyland’s five seasons and hasn’t had a winning record once after it.

“It’s probably different (reasons) every year,” Leyland said. “Two of those years, it wasn’t what we wanted, but we still went to the World Series and played the 163rd game for the (AL Central) championship.”

All-Star Miguel Cabrera is taking some of the blame for the latest slump after the break.

“Starting the second half in Cleveland, I didn’t do my job,” said Cabrera, who was 2 for 14 with two RBIs as the last-place Indians swept Detroit. “What I and we need to do is look in the mirror, turn it around, play more relaxed and make something happen.”

The Rangers had plenty of players doing their jobs in the second of a three-game series.

Elvis Andrus hit Armando Galarraga’s first pitch for a single, scored on Kinsler’s triple and Hamilton followed with a sacrifice fly. Murphy’s solo homer in the second put Texas up 3-0.

Nelson Cruz’s RBI single in the sixth brought Hamilton home, providing the Rangers with more than enough offense.

But the Rangers stayed aggressive and turned the game into a rout with a four-run ninth against relievers Brad Thomas and Casey Fien, who was recalled earlier in the day from Triple-A Toledo to take Brandon Inge’s spot on the roster.

Andrus’ suicide squeeze gave Texas a five-run cushion in the final inning, Kinsler’s two-run homer and Hamilton’s solo shot made it 8-0.

Detroit didn’t have a hit off Hunter until Austin Jackson led off the fourth with a single.

“We couldn’t get anything going,” Jackson said.

The Tigers looked like they might score in the seventh, but Andrus dove to stop a sharply hit grounder between third and second and made a throw from his right knee to stunt the potential rally.

Galarraga (3-3) gave up four runs and nine hits over 7 1-3 innings.

Even though he has won only once since his near-perfect game June 2, Leyland didn’t sound discouraged about him.

“Galarraga gave us a chance to win,” he said.

Hunter, meanwhile, made it tough for the Tigers to earn a much-needed victory.

The right-hander gave up just three hits and walked two over seven innings.

“Tommy Hunter gave us just what we needed,” manager Ron Washington said. “Our bullpen was beat up, and he got us deep into the game with another great outing.

“He pitched well, the guys behind him played great defense and we put some runs on the board. That’s about as clean a game of baseball as you can play.”

NOTES: Texas’ Dustin Nippert says he didn’t sustain any significant injuries when he was hit by a batted ball during Monday night’s game against Detroit and agreed with the team’s decision to put him on the 15-day DL for precautionary reasons. ... The Rangers, who had lost 11 straight at Detroit before winning in 14 innings on Monday night, have won a series at Comerica Park for the first time since 2007 and go for a sweep on Wednesday. ... Detroit has lost seven in a row for the first time since the start of the 2008 season. ... The Tigers put Inge on the 15-day DL with a broken left hand and replaced him in the field with Don Kelly, who dove to stop two grounders and made throws on both plays to get outs.

Ramirez’s 3 homers powers Cubs past Astros

CHICAGO — With the end of his long baseball career in sight, Lou Piniella endured a long emotional day. It ended with him leading the Cubs to its biggest comeback of the season.

Aramis Ramirez hit three homers and drove in seven runs to help Chicago rally to beat the Houston Astros 14-7 on Tuesday night hours after Piniella announced he will retire at the end of the season.

Ramirez hit two three-run homers and a solo shot. It was the fourth three-homer game of his career. The game started as a microcosm of the season for Piniella, who is calling it quits after 18 years in the majors as a player and another 22 as a manager.

"Sure it was. It was emotional and draining, but it is over with and now my situation doesn't have to be disturbed anymore and we can concentrate on the team, which is important," said Piniella. "Component, I'm just a small piece of it. Let's hope we can continue to play and win some baseball games and make it fun for our fans."

Derrek Lee hit a go-ahead RBI double in the seventh and Geovany Soto tied the game with a solo shot in the sixth inning for the Cubs, who came back after trailing 7-1 in the fifth inning.

"I'm tired today, I really am. I really am, but I will get a good night sleep and I will be out here ready to go tomorrow," said Piniella.

Ramirez wasn't surprised to hear Piniella will retire after the season, but he was caught off guard that he announced it on Tuesday.

"Not really. Lou is what? (66). It was coming. I was surprised that he announced it during the season, I thought he was going to wait until the end of the season," said Ramirez.

Starlin Castro led off the seventh with a double off the center-field wall off Astros reliever Brandon Lyon (5-4). Lee followed with an RBI double to left-center and scored on Alfonso Soriano's two-out RBI single to give the Cubs a 9-7 lead.

Lee also had a two-run single in the eighth and Ramirez hit his third home run of the game, a three-run shot off Astros reliever Gary Majewski.

The Cubs sent 10 hitter to the plate in the fifth and eighth innings.

Cubs reliever Andrew Cashner (1-3) pitched the sixth and seventh and retired all six batters he faced to earn his first major league victory and Sean Marshall followed with a perfect eighth. Carlos Marmol pitched a scoreless ninth to close the game. The Cubs bullpen retired the final 12 batters in order to end the game.

After sitting through a long a five-run first inning in Monday night's blowout loss, Piniella had to endure a four-run second inning on Tuesday, that consisted of one error, three walks and a hit batter. The Astros sent 10 batters to the plate, but only had two hits in the inning.

"Well it didn't start well, but it sure ended well. I am real proud of our team the way they came back and finished the job," said Piniella, who saw the Cubs score 13 unanswered runs.

Chris Johnson was 2 for 4 with a home run and two RBIs for the Astros. After hitting his first major league homer Monday night, Johnson hit his second one to center.

Ramirez hit his first homer of the night in the fourth inning off Wesley Wright.

"We hit the ball, hard, it wasn't only me. We scored 14 runs," said Ramirez. "It was a team win today."

Wright was called up before the game from Triple-A Round Rock for his first major league start, allowed six runs and six hits in 4 2-3 innings.

Trailing 7-1, the Cubs rallied in the fifth. Soto led off the inning with a single, then Ryan Theriot hit a grounder to Jeff Keppinger at second base, Keppinger made an errant throw that rolled into left-field, moving Soto to third and Theriot ended up at second.

"No lead is safe, especially in here when the winds blowing out a little bit," said Astros manager Brad Mills. "They opened the door for us by throwing the ball away at second and we kind of opened the door the exact same."

Wright struck out pinch-hitter Xavier Nady on a wild pitch, allowing Soto to score. Tyler Colvin reached after getting plunked by Wright and Castro drove in Theriot on a groundout to second. Lee followed with a walk, then Ramirez hit his second home run of the night, a three-run shot to left-center to get the Cubs within 7-6.

"The thing kind of got away from me a little bit. I'm a little disappointed about that. I wish I would have been able got out of that inning (5th). I didn't. It's a learning experience," said Wright. "That's going to happen (error) over a course of a game. I wish I could have executed a little bit better in the fifth inning and give our team a chance to get over that error."

Soto tied the game in the sixth inning with a leadoff home run.

Notes: Cubs RHP Carlos Zambrano, who has been on the restricted list following his dugout confrontation with teammate Lee, will pitch in relief for Triple-A Iowa on Thursday. ... Dempster pitched five innings, he allowed seven runs, four earned and four walks.

Creditors urge delay of Texas Rangers auction

FORT WORTH, Texas — Angry creditors urged a federal bankruptcy judge Tuesday to delay next month’s auction of the Texas Rangers, saying potential buyers need three to four months to secure financing — jeopardizing the sale to Major League Baseball’s preferred buyer.

In a contentious daylong hearing, the court-appointed restructuring officer and a lender both testified that potential bidders have said securing financing would be difficult by the scheduled Aug. 4 auction.

Attorneys for the Rangers argued interested parties have had plenty of time to get financing in order and review documents, because some participated in bidding last year. The judge said the winning bidder has up to two months after the auction to finalize the funding.

Salvatore Galatioto, president of Galatioto Sports Partners that is one of the team’s creditors, said obtaining large loans takes time because banks are less eager to loan money and face stiff regulatory oversight.

He said some interested buyers are hesitant to bid on the Rangers because Major League Baseball continues to endorse a group led by Hall of Fame pitcher and Rangers president Nolan Ryan and sports attorney Chuck Greenberg, whose bid to buy the team has been stalled by creditors for months.

“I don’t believe it’s become a completely open process even now,” Galatioto told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge D. Michael Lynn.

The hearing was to continue Thursday with more witnesses, including Rangers manager Ron Washington. Lynn said he wanted an attorney for team owner Tom Hicks to testify but would consider the Rangers’ opposition to it.

Lynn said until he decides whether the auction will be held Aug. 4, potential bidders should continue preparing for it on that day.

“Bidders should assume that this is their opportunity to acquire the Rangers,” Lynn said.

The Greenberg-Ryan group, which has bid about $575 million, opposes a delay because its financing guarantee is set to expire Aug. 12.

Selling the team to Greenberg-Ryan’s group and repaying creditors $75 million was the Rangers’ plan when it filed for bankruptcy in May. The team said it hoped to move forward with the long-delayed sale, but instead has faced one hurdle after another — creditors who say the Greenberg-Ryan bid wasn’t the highest, a court-appointed restructuring officer who suggested an auction, and squabbles over everything from turning over documents to the bidding procedures.

William K. Snyder, appointed to make sure the team was maximizing its assets, said keeping the team in bankruptcy a few more months wouldn’t “be the end of the world.” He said delaying the auction would help ensure a fair process resulting in the highest bid, but he acknowledged that he has not evaluated the team’s assets to determine the best sale price.

Snyder and Galatioto both said they have talked to four potential buyers: Houston businessman Jim Crane and Dallas investor Jeff Beck, both cleared by MLB to submit bids, and two unidentified parties.

Galatioto denied that his group had agreed to provide financing for Crane but said they had preliminary talks.

Snyder said one of the new potential bidders was so wealthy that he could fund the deal without financing, and that his interest has been “pretty public.”

The judge told those testifying not to reveal any names or bid amounts after creditors objected when Glenn Kurtz, an attorney for Greenberg-Ryan’s group, asked if Dallas Mavericks owner and billionaire Mark Cuban is an interested bidder. Kurtz also said he saw Cuban’s name in documents produced during discovery in the case.

Last week, Cuban told some news outlets that he was interested in buying the American League West-leading Rangers by joining Greenberg-Ryan’s group or another group as a major investor.

“The economics have changed, which has gotten me interested,” Cuban told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in an e-mail. “My lawyers are still going through everything, but the bigger point is that I now have an interest.”

Cuban has not responded to requests for comment from The Associated Press. Last year, he was unsuccessful in his bid to buy the Chicago Cubs.

-- Angela K. Brown

Nippert feeling OK but headed to disabled list

DETROIT — Texas Rangers pitcher Dustin Nippert might have been the calmest person at Comerica Park after he was hit in the head by a batted ball.

Tigers outfielder Austin Jackson’s line drive sent Nippert crumbling to the ground and a hush fell over the stadium as players and fans feared he had been seriously injured.

Nippert, though, knew that he was OK.

“It happened so fast that I didn’t even have time to get worried,” he said. “I was stunned, and then I was surrounded by people.”

Rangers catcher Matt Treanor was the first to arrive, followed quickly by his teammates and the Texas training staff. Nippert quickly sat up, and didn’t even want to leave the game.

“When they let me stand up, they started pushing me toward the dugout,” he said. “I was waiting for them to let me throw a couple pitches to see if I was OK, but they didn’t give me a chance.”

Nippert, who never lost consciousness, was taken to a local hospital for a precautionary CT scan, but was back at the team hotel before the Rangers won the 14-inning game at 11:58 p.m..

“They told me that all the tests were normal — I don’t have a concussion, just some bruises and a lump,” he said. “I don’t even really have a headache. The only thing is that I get dizzy when I stand up, and they said that was normal and would go away in a day or two.”

One of the happiest people with the outcome was Jackson, who visited Nippert in the Texas clubhouse before Tuesday’s game. He ended up on second base after the ball ricocheted off Nippert’s head and into shallow left field for a double.

“It is part of the game, but you never want to see that happen,” Jackson said Monday night. “It’s weird, because you want to stop and check on him, but you have to keep running.”

Despite Nippert’s relatively mild injuries, he didn’t disagree with the team’s decision to put him on the 15-day disabled list.

“This isn’t like having a sore elbow or shoulder — this is my brain we’re talking about,” he said. “I don’t have a problem with taking things slowly.”

The Rangers were forced into the move because they used seven pitchers Monday.

“We needed some help in the bullpen, and they told us that Dustin should probably take four or five days off, so we decided to do the smart thing and be extremely cautious with him,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said.

Texas recalled reliever Doug Mathis from Triple-A Oklahoma City to replace Nippert. Mathis, who is 1-1 with a 6.98 ERA this season for the Rangers, is capable of pitching multiple innings.

“We need someone who can go long right now, and Mathis can do that,” Washington said.

Texas outfielder Cristian Santana suspended

NEW YORK — Texas Rangers outfielder Cristian Santana has been suspended for 50 games following a positive test for Formestane under baseball’s minor league drug program.

The 21-year-old is batting .260 with 11 homers and 46 RBIs for Hickory of the Class A South Atlantic League. The suspension, announced Tuesday, starts immediately.

There have been 47 suspensions this year under the minor league program. Cincinnati pitcher Edinson Volquez was suspended under the major league program.

Houston calls up Wright to start against Cubs

CHICAGO — The Houston Astros have called up Wesley Wright from Triple-A Round Rock and the left-hander was scheduled to make his first major league start against the Chicago Cubs.

Wright was 4-0 with a 4.18 ERA in 13 starts for Round Rock. He had no record and a 5.59 ERA in six relief appearances with the Astros earlier this season.

Ryan Dempster was expected to start for the Cubs on Tuesday night.

The 25-year-old Wright is 7-7 with a 5.24 ERA in 126 major league appearances.

Also for the Astros, right-hander Felipe Paulino, on the disabled list with right shoulder tendinitis, saw Dr. David Lintner in Houston and was diagnosed with a mild rotator cuff strain. He is expected to be sidelined for four weeks.