Dane Dunning struck out 10 in the longest outing of his career, Adolis Garcia belted a home run for the third time in as many games and the Texas Rangers cruised to a 10-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday in Arlington, Texas.
Dunning (7-1) pitched a gem but fell just short of a complete-game shutout. With two outs in the ninth, Tigers second baseman Andy Ibanez reached on an infield single. The next batter, Kerry Carpenter, homered to right-center field to produce the Tigers' only runs and end Dunning's night. The right-hander allowed two runs on four hits with no walks and matched his career high with 10 strikeouts over a career-long 8 2/3 innings.
Dunning had the luxury of pitching with a comfortable lead all night. The Rangers jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the first inning. Marcus Semien and Corey Seager opened with consecutive doubles, and Josh Jung, Ezequiel Duran and Leody Taveras added RBI singles later on off Tigers starter Joey Wentz (1-9).
Texas extended its lead to 6-0 in the third inning on solo shots by Jung and Duran. Jung jumped on a first-pitch cutter from Wentz, while Duran hit a bullet that sneaked over the left-field wall.
The Rangers made it 8-0 in the sixth on a two-run shot by Garcia off Tigers reliever Garrett Hill. Texas pushed its lead to 10-0 with two more runs in the seventh off Hill, including an RBI double by Garcia.
Wentz took the loss, allowing six runs (four earned) on nine hits with two walks and five strikeouts over 4 2/3 innings.
Tigers star Miguel Cabrera was ejected in the fifth inning for arguing a checked-swing strike three call by first base umpire Ben May. Cabrera seemed surprised by the ejection as he didn't get overly animated protesting it, but it ended his night early regardless. He was 0-for-2.
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