Texas Rangers return to World Series

Riding the strength of a nine-run third inning, the Texas Rangers defeated the Detroit Tigers 15-5 on Saturday night at Arlington, winning the American League Championship Series in six games and advancing to the World Series for the second consecutive season. The Rangers will play the Milwaukee Brewers or St. Louis Cardinals, who continue their NLCS at Milwaukee on Sunday with the Cardinals holding a 3-2 lead in the series. The World Series begins Wednesday on FOX at the home stadium of the NLCS winner. On Saturday, the Rangers and starter Derek Holland fell behind early, as solo home runs by Miguel Cabrera in the first inning and Jhonny Peralta in the second put the Tigers up 2-0, a lead which they held entering the bottom of the third. After Ian Kinsler led off the inning with a groundout, nine consecutive Rangers reached base safely, chasing Tigers starter Max Scherzer in the process. After Michael Young doubled in Elvis Andrus and Josh Hamilton to give the Rangers their first two runs, Adrian Beltre singled to center to score Young and give the Rangers the lead for good. In all, 14 batters came to the plate in the bottom of the third. A season after the first World Series appearance in franchise history, Texas and manager Ron Washington have repeated the magic to become the first AL team to reach consecutive World Series since the New York Yankees made four in a row from 1998-2001. Outfielder Nelson Cruz made some history of his own, homering for the sixth time in the series, setting a major league record for home runs in a single postseason series. Holland was far from stellar in Game 6, lasting only 4-2/3 innings and failing to qualify for the victory. He was shaky early, a double-play grounder right before Cabrera's homer preventing the Tigers from having a huge inning. He gave up four runs on seven hits, including three home runs. Austin Jackson's two-run shot in the fifth chased Holland from the game. But Scherzer's numbers were worse, as he gave up six runs on five hits in only 2-1/3 innings. He left the game trailing 3-2 with the bases loaded in the third, but the bullpen allowed all three inherited runners to score. In fact, Ryan Perry was the only of the Tigers' first five pitchers in the game not to give up an earned run (though he did give up an unearned run). The Rangers went 3-0 at home in the ALCS, and are now 4-1 at Arlington this postseason.