Rangers ride seven homers to rout of Tigers

Rangers 13, Tigers 6

DETROIT (AP) -- Tigers manager Jim Leyland isn't a big believer in momentum.

A day after the Tigers rallied with four runs in the ninth for a thrilling win over Toronto, Detroit fell behind by 11 runs and lost 13-6 on Tuesday to the Texas Rangers in the opener of a day-night doubleheader.

"Momentum doesn't matter if you don't pitch," Leyland said. "When the air is out of the balloon after three innings, it isn't good."

Marlon Byrd homered twice and Hank Blalock, David Murphy, Freddy Guzman, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Ramon Vazquez also connected for Texas, which had not hit seven homers in a game since getting eight on June 30, 2005, against the Angels.

Detroit began the day 3½ games behind the New York Yankees in the AL wild-card race and six back of AL Central-leading Cleveland. The Tigers are 6-4 in September, not the playoff push needed for Detroit to retain its AL title.

"We haven't pitched well," Leyland said. "We're trying to fight our way through it, but you have to have a chance to win. Being down 11-0 isn't having a chance."

Gary Sheffield, Placido Polanco and Ivan Rodriguez sat out the first game, but Leyland expected them all to start the second game. Sheffield is hitless in his last 25 at-bats, his longest skid since a career high 0-for-29 slide from April 13 to May 3, 2002, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Texas has won six straight, its longest winning streak since April 26 to May 4 last year, and 13 of 15. Texas hit seven homers, one short of team the record set on May 21, 2005, against Houston and matched June 30, 2005, against the Angels. The Rangers have scored 52 runs in their last three doubleheader games.

"It seems like we're a doubleheader team," Byrd said. "It's been a long year, but we're finally playing Rangers baseball."

"I guess you'd have to say it is the hottest we've been all year," Texas manager Ron Washington said.

Vicente Padilla (6-9) allowed three hits and three walks in six shutout innings, improving his scoreless streak to 12 innings. He is 3-0 in his career against Detroit with a 2.07 ERA.

Chad Durbin (8-7) gave up five runs -- four earned -- and six hits in 2 2/3 innings.

Detroit trailed 11-0 before scoring five runs off Mike Wood in the eighth, when Mike Hessman hit a three-run homer.

Texas went ahead in the first when center fielder Curtis Granderson appeared to lose Jason Botts' RBI single in a cloudy sky. In the second, left fielder Marcus Thames let Murphy's fly glance off his glove, bounce off the top of the wall and land in the bullpen to make it 2-0.

Durbin hit Ian Kinsler opening the third, and Byrd hit a two-run homer. Blalock's two-out double chased Durbin, Murphy reached on a throwing error by third baseman Brandon Inge and Tim Byrdak threw a run-scoring wild pitch that put Texas ahead 5-0.

A sign of the Tigers' day: Timo Perez's two-out single hit teammate Omar Infante between first and second in the bottom half, ending the inning.

Texas made it 10-0 in the fifth against Jose Capellan when Byrd hit a solo homer, Murphy had an RBI triple, Saltalamacchia followed with a two-run homer and Vazquez homered on the next pitch. Byrd, who has a career-best nine home runs, drove in three runs in the first multihomer game of his career

Blalock hit a 440-foot drive to straightaway center in the seventh against Yorman Bazardo. Guzman got his first major-league homer in the ninth when he connected off Clay Rapada.

"I think it is impressive that we're consistently putting together such great at-bats," Murphy said. "It's been the whole team, up and down the lineup."

Game notes
The teams combined to use 35 players. ... Rapada has faced eight batters as a Tiger and retired only three. ... The Rangers activated right-hander Brandon McCarthy (shoulder) from the DL between games and he was scheduled to start at night.