ARLINGTON, Texas — — Adolis Garcia struck out during a Texas rally that fell short in the ninth inning, ending his 23-game hitting streak as the Detroit Tigers beat 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 came within a game of matching the longest hitting streak in history 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 game. I wanted to put something in the barrel.
“They tried to use the streak against me. They knew I wanted to hit and they didn’t throw anything easy at me,” she 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 won two of three from Texas and is 2-0-2 in its last four series.
“We won the series, so you always take that away,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said. “Obviously the last two innings slipped away from us, and we didn’t do ourselves a lot of favors. But we get the last one out and go home on a happy flight.”
Corey Seager homered twice for Texas.
“Not resigning,” Rangers interim manager Tony Beasley said. “We keep saying on the bench, ‘We’re going to eliminate, eliminate.’ We fight to the end.”
Detroit took a 9-2 lead into the eighth before Garcia hit an RBI groundout and Kole Calhoun hit a two-run homer, his first since July 9.
Trailing 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 fanned Garcia and retired Calhoun with a fly ball to center field 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 inning after rookie Kerry Carpenter hit an RBI double. Candelario homered in Detroit’s 11-2 win on Saturday and barely missed another Sunday in the seventh with a double off the right-field wall.
Carpenter, who made his major league debut Aug. 10, had his second three-hit game with two doubles and a single.
Drew Hutchison (2-7) won for the first time since July 5, pitching 5 1/3 innings. He allowed back-to-back solo homers to Seager and Nathaniel Lowe in the sixth.
Tigers rookie second baseman Kody Clemens, the son of seven-time Cy Young winner Roger Clemens, walked the bases loaded in the third inning in his first start in his home state.
Kohei Arihara (1-2) lasted just 3 1/3 innings after giving his first quality start in the majors last Sunday, when he shut out Minnesota in six innings. Arihara allowed six runs on eight hits, two walks and a hit 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 major league debut at home against the Rangers on June 18 with two hits and two walks.
Greene is beating everyone up lately. He has multiple hits in six of his last seven games and is hitting .467.
SHORT JUMPS
The Tigers, who entered the game last in the majors in runs, 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 homers and Lowe’s 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.
COACHES ROOM
Tigers: RHP Michael Pineda (right triceps tightness) allowed two runs in five innings Sunday with four strikeouts and no walks during what should be his last rehab outing for Triple-A Toledo.
UNTIL NEXT TIME
The next game for both teams will be Tuesday night at home. Tigers RHP Mike Manning (1-1, 2.37 ERA) will be looking 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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