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Murphy homers to lead Rangers past Tigers

Sep 15, 2010 - 4:18 AM ARLINGTON, Texas(AP) -- David Murphy had to wait a few nervous minutes before he got confirmation from the umpires that his home run was legit.

Murphy's blast was ruled fair on replay to help the Texas Rangers win their sixth straight game with an 11-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night.

Murphy led off the fourth against Jeremy Bonderman with his 10th homer, a towering drive to right field that sailed over the area above the foul pole, with the ball finally glancing off the facing of the second deck.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland argued that the ball was foul, but he was overruled after the umpires went to video review.

Although one replay seemed to support Leyland's claim, crew chief Jerry Layne said the ball went over the foul pole without an overwhelming reason to overturn the original call.

"There was no evidence it was any different from what I had seen on the field," Layne said. "You need reversible doubt to change the call."

While the umpires watched the video, Murphy bided his time in the dugout, unsure of the outcome.

"Some of my teammates said it was fair and some of my teammates said it was foul. I didn't know what to think," said Murphy, who had three hits and extended his career-best hitting streak to 12 games.

"It started so far fair that I couldn't tell if it hooked around at the last second or if it went right in front of it or if it went over it. Their guess was as good as mine."

Texas maintained momentum from a three-game weekend sweep of the New York Yankees, increasing its lead in the AL West over second-place Oakland to nine games and reducing its magic number to 10.

Murphy was credited with an RBI for the go-ahead run in the three-run sixth when his ground ball was bobbled for an error by second baseman Will Rhymes, with Elvis Andrus scoring from third to give Texas a 5-4 lead.

Nelson Cruz and Ian Kinsler added run-scoring singles off Robbie Weinhardt (1-2) later in the inning for a 7-4 lead.

Weinhardt's sinker was consistently up in the strike zone, and he allowed three runs and four hits in 2-3 of an inning.

The Tigers were undone by shaky pitching and defense. Leyland refused to blame the result of the video review for any lost momentum by his team.

"You don't make pitches and you don't make plays against good teams, that'll kill ya," Leyland said.

Michael Young, who went 3 for 5 with three runs scored, added a three-run double in the seventh to extend the lead to 10-4.

All the Texas starters had at least one hit and all but two scored runs.

"Our biggest goal is to get contributions up and down our lineup, be as versatile as we can and find ways to score runs in different ways," Young said. "If we do that, we should be in good shape."

Dustin Nippert (4-4) pitched 4 1-3 innings to earn the win.

Rookie Casper Wells had a career-high four hits for Detroit, which loaded the bases in a 1-all game in the third against Derek Holland.

Jhonny Peralta's sacrifice fly and Wells' RBI single gave Detroit a 3-1 lead.

A howling wind continued to give fielders fits, with Cruz commiting a two-base error in right field in the fourth when Ramon Santiago's fly ball sailed over his head.

Scott Sizemore's single drove in Santiago to make it 4-1.

After Murphy's homer, Mitch Moreland's RBI single later in the fourth pulled Texas within 4-3. The Rangers scored the third run of the inning when third baseman Brandon Inge dropped an easy ground ball by Andrus for an error.

Holland allowed four runs - one earned - in four innings.

NOTES: Rangers RHP Neftali Feliz missed the game after the birth of his first child earlier Tuesday. Feliz was with his wife, Karina, in New York City for the arrival of daughter Nerali Lucia. ... Kinsler is appealing a one-game suspension for taking part in an on-field celebration after being ejected during a game against the Yankees last Friday night. Kinsler was fined an undisclosed amount by Major League Baseball along with the suspension that was announced on Tuesday. The penalty was set to take effect for Tuesday night's game, but Kinsler remained in the lineup because of the appeal. Kinsler joined teammates celebrating a game-ending 13th-inning homer by Cruz, and Kinsler said he thought he would be allowed to because the game was over. ... Detroit RHP Rick Porcello will be replaced by RHP Armando Galarraga for Wednesday night's start against Texas. Porcello was scratched with a sprained right index finger. ... Rangers OF Josh Hamilton took limited batting practice for the first time since the end of August, but the session was shut down due to recurring pain from bruised ribs. Hamilton missed his ninth straight game but still leads the majors with a .361 average. ... Gerald Laird was back behind the plate for the Tigers after missing the previous 16 games with back spasms.