Forgive the title...I couldn't resist.
Tommy Hunter's second pitch of the game sailed off the bat of Tigers All-Star Curtis Granderson into the right field seats, giving Detroit the early 1-0 lead. From there, Hunter pitched seven innings of shutout baseball, striking out six.
"Good job by Tommy Hunter," manager Ron Washington said. "We knew he could handle the baseball and manipulate it. He's got four pitches."
The biggest moment of the night came in the top of the 5th when, with the bases loaded, Hunter threw a high fastball by Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera, ending the top half of the inning in dramatic fashion.
"I think it was a combination of he pitched very well and we didn't swing too well," said Tigers manager Jim Leyland. "We've done this for months, to be honest with you. We've swung at balls and taken strikes."
"I was trying to throw strikes," Hunter said. "I gotta minimize the damage. It was fun. That was fun, puts a smile on your face. It changed the game."
Hunter's assessment was right on the money as in the bottom of the 5th, Nelson Cruz pulled Texas even with a monster 542-foot solo homerun, the 5th longest homerun ever hit at the Ballpark in Arlington.
The Rangers continued their march to victory in the bottom of the 6th, getting a lead-off double by Elvis Andrus who scored on a single by Michael Young. After a David Murphy walk, Hank Blalock drove both men home with a double down the rightfield line, putitng Texas up 4-1.
Detroit pushed another run across in the top of the 8th but was answered in the bottom of the inning via Michael Young's 14th homerun of the year. For the night, Young had three base hits, the 3rd consecutive game he's accomplished that feat.
In the 9th, C.J. Wilson came on to strike out the side, picking up his 11th save of the season.
Tommy Hunter is now 3-1 with an ERA of 2.00. Offenses are hitting just over .200 against him.
The 5-2 win broke a string of seven straight loses to the Tigers.
"We had many opportunities to win against them in Detroit," Washington said. "Those guys don't quit. I remember four or five games in Detroit we would have won. They snatched them from us. Baseball does that."
The win give Texas a 33-19 record at home, 2nd best in team history and also moves them to 2 games behind the Angels in the AL West.
The win puts a cap on the most successful season in Texas Rangers history as the team made it all the way to the World Series before falling to the San Francisco. Hamilton, while proud of his personal achievement, kept things in perspective, saying, "We made a lot of history in Texas that's never been done before. I said during the season, if I could give up the MVP to go into the playoffs and win, I would. We did both."
