Hamilton's Homer Ends 13-Inning Marathon
Updated at 7:44 5/26/12
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -- Josh Hamilton hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the 13th inning, lifting the Texas Rangers to an 8-7 victory over the Toronto Blue jays.
Toronto had taken a 7-5 lead in the top half, but Elvis Andrus doubled in a run off Ryota Igarashi to start the comeback. Hamilton's third game-ending homer came off Jason Frasor (0-1) and was his 20th home run of the year.
Ian Kinsler walked to start the inning -- the fifth-straight inning that the Rangers got their leadoff batter on base -- and Andrus doubled. Frasor relieved and gave up the home run.
In the top of the 13th, Omar Vizquel hit an RBI single for Toronto and later scored after Nelson Cruz misplayed a flyball by Yunel Escobar with two outs. Vizquel went 3 for 6 with his first two RBI's of the season.
The Rangers left a runner stranded at third base in the seventh, ninth, 10th and 11th innings, and before Hamilton's hit, Texas was 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position.
Yoshinori Tateyama (1-0), the seventh Rangers pitcher, got one out for the win.
Texas relievers Mike Adams, Joe Nathan, Koji Uehara and Robbie Ross combined to retire 14 in a row starting with the final out of the seventh until Ross walked Colby Rasmus with one out in the 12th.
The Rangers got out of that inning even after Rasmus made it to third on Edwin Encarnacion's single with two outs when J.P. Arencibia grounded out to Ross. Then in the 13th, Ross gave up a single to Brett Lawrie with one out, leading the way for Vizquel's RBI.
Kinsler led off the game with a double, and Andrus followed with a fielder's choice that Kinsler beat out at third base. Hamilton grounded out to score Kinsler for a quick 1-0 lead for Texas, then Andrus scored on Adrian Beltre's sacrifice fly.
Texas' 2-0 lead held up until the fifth when Rasmus homered off the right field pole to tie it.
David Cooper had an RBI single in the sixth and Texas starter Colby Lewis deflected Vizquel's bunt toward first base for a run-scoring hit to make it 4-2.
Lewis left after 5 1-3 innings having given up 10 hits.
Texas' big bats came alive in the bottom of the sixth inning. After consecutive groundouts to pitcher Henderson Alvarez, Texas' 7-8-9 hitters Cruz, Yorvit Torrealba and Mitch Moreland each hit 400-plus foot home runs to left-center field. Torrealba's and Moreland's drives landed in the Toronto bullpen for a 5-4. It was the seventh time in club history the Rangers hit three consecutive home runs in an inning. The Rangers did it twice last year, the last time being Sept. 27 against the Angels.
Alvarez, who pitched 5 2-3 innings and gave up five runs on nine hits, was ejected after he threw a pitch far inside to Kinsler just after giving up the back-to-back-to-back home runs.
Toronto tied the game 5-all after Jose Bautista hit a leadoff double and scored when J.P. Arencibia singled.
NOTES: It was the Rangers 15th sellout of the season with 47,430 fans in attendance. ... The game lasted 4 hours, 38 minutes and many fans remained.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
