Tigers ride 7-run first to romp over Rangers

DETROIT -- Cole Hamels took the mound Saturday afternoon at Comerica Park on baseball's trading block, a candidate to be dealt by the July 31 non-waiver Trade Deadline. He left the mound with two outs in the opening inning, no outs on balls in play, seven runs in and the Tigers rolling.
"We didn't hit a lot of balls hard early," manager Ron Gardenhire said after Detroit's 7-2 win over the Rangers. "We got the big break."
The breaks were two balls off gloves -- one a comebacker that Hamels redirected trying to grab, the other a liner to center that hit off Delino DeShields' glove for a bases-clearing error. Either play would've ended the inning with less damage, had they been made. But when they weren't, the Tigers took full advantage, setting up Mike Fiers for his first victory since June 4 and dooming Hamels to by far his worst outing in Detroit.
Less than a day after Jordan Zimmermann and Bartolo Colon dueled to a 3-1 Tigers victory in just over two hours, this one was neither that close nor as quick. After Hamels struck out Mikie Mahtook leading off the game, five consecutive Tigers reached base, beginning with Nick Castellanos' 15th homer of the year.

Asked what he saw from Hamels, John Hicks -- who hit an RBI single in the frame -- shrugged.
"I saw two pitches," Hicks said. "For me, he left a changeup over the plate. I can't speak for anyone else, but they said his curveball was a little different than it had been in the past. We were aggressive, we got good pitches to hit, and it was a good first inning."
Hicks' ground ball through the middle drove in Niko Goodrum, who went 4-for-4 and reached base five times. Back-to-back walks after Hicks' single loaded the bases, but Hamels fanned James McCann and induced what looked like an inning-ending bouncer from José Iglesias. The high hop forced Hamels to reach for it, which he couldn't do in time.
"That's what you have to do to win," Goodrum said. "Grind out at-bats and grind out hits. Whether it's a soft hit or a hard hit, it goes down as a hit."
Jones' deflected single again loaded the bases, and JaCoby Jones stepped to the plate. He sent a line drive to center field that sent DeShields -- playing too far in -- backpedaling before reaching up. The ball hit off the Texas center fielder's glove for an error that allowed all three runners to score.

Mahtook's RBI double in his second time up in the inning ended Hamels' shortest outing since 2010 with seven runs (three earned) on five hits and two walks, with both of his outs on strikeouts. He had given up four earned runs over 20 innings in his previous three starts in Detroit. Matt Moore tossed 4 1/3 scoreless innings of long relief, despite walking four.
"A touchdown in the first inning -- I'm sure the Lions would take that," Gardenhire said. "And we will, too."

Of the five hits off Hamels, Castellanos' homer and Mahtook's double were the only ones with a hit probability over 70 percent, according to Statcast™. The next-highest hit probability, ironically, was DeShields' error.
Fiers (6-5) had some hard-hit outs, but kept challenging Texas' aggressive hitters to try to slug their way back into the game. Aside from Rougned Odor's sixth-inning solo homer, they couldn't. Fiers finished with six innings of one-run ball, plus a walk and six strikeouts, earning his second win over the Rangers this season.
"I kind of got out of rhythm with the long first inning," Fiers said. "[But] I'll take that every time."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Hardy holds off rally:Blaine Hardy took the mound for the seventh with a 7-1 lead and retired the first five batters he faced before back-to-back ground-ball singles gave the Rangers some life with the middle of their order coming up with two outs in the eighth. Hardy put Odor in an 0-2 count, but he battled his way to an 11-pitch at-bat before Hardy snuck a cutter past him for a called third strike.
"You would like to have added on and had the game go more, but we'll take it," Gardenhire said.
SOUND SMART
Goodrum has two four-hit games this week. He's 13-for-28 so far in July, having taken over everyday playing time at second base.
"He's just playing and seeing the ball good," Gardenhire said. "The biggest thing, I think, is he's not worried about being sent out [to the Minor Leagues]. He's getting an opportunity to play, and he's enjoying the heck out of it, which you should."

YOU GOTTA SEE THIS
Adrián Beltré's 466 career home runs put him one ahead of Miguel Cabrera on MLB's all-time list. Cabrera's teammate, center fielder Jones, denied Beltre what would've been number 467 with a leaping grab at the fence, reaching into the bullpen in left-center field to bring the sixth-inning drive back.
"His whole arm went over the fence," Gardenhire marveled. "He snagged it behind there. It's a timing thing, and you have to be athletic to be able to do some of those things. I'm sure our pitcher was very, very excited along with the rest of us."
Fiers was indeed excited.
"That was amazing," he said. "I thought that was for sure gone. These guys, no matter what the score is, no matter what's going on, these guys play hard behind me."

UP NEXT
Michael Fulmer (3-7, 4.22 ERA) takes the mound Sunday amid potential trade interest with a chance to give the Tigers their first series win since mid-June, as the four-game set with the Rangers concludes with a 1:10 p.m. ET matinee at Comerica Park. Fulmer allowed a solo homer through his first five innings against the Rangers in their last meeting on May 7 in Arlington, before a four-run sixth inning chased him. Austin Bibens-Dirkx (1-2, 4.40 ERA) starts for Texas.