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Trio of Young, Laird and Byrd helps Rangers hold off Angels

Sep 25, 2007 - 4:52 AM By John Tranchina PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) - The Texas Rangers managed to hold on to their second big lead of the game to defeat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 8-7, on Monday night.

Michael Young continued his career-long mastery over Angels starter Ervin Santana as he drove in four runs, including a three-run home run in the third inning that put Texas up, 4-0.

Young is now batting .464 (13-for-28) with two home runs and eight RBI over his career against Santana.

Gerald Laird had three hits and finished a homer shy of the cycle for the Rangers, while Marlon Byrd contributed the go-ahead, two-run home run in the fifth inning.

"Yeah, it crosses your mind, it's just something that would be special to do," Laird said after striking out twice with a chance for the cycle.

"It's always something you want to do. It would have been nice. I got a fastball on my fourth at-bat and I just fouled it straight back and I was like, 'Oh, that was your shot.' But I had a good night, we won and that was the most important thing."

One night after clinching the American League West title, the Angels made a valiant comeback attempt from two different three-run deficits, inching to within a run with a two-run rally in the eighth, but fell to just their third loss in their last eight games.

Texas starter Armando Galarraga made his first career start after making two previous relief appearances, and was impressive early. He did not allow a hit until Maicer Izturis singled to right in the fifth inning. However, that single sparked a five-run frame that erased a four-run Texas lead.

"For four innings, he had a no-hitter," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "That's a feat right there with that team, the way they put the ball in play, the way they move runners and the way they make things happen, so he accomplished something right there. We were trying to get him through the fifth and were hoping to get him out of there with the lead, but it didn't happen that way."

With the Rangers leading, 4-0, Galarraga walked Juan Rivera to lead off the fifth and gave up a single to Izturis. Howie Kendrick followed with a double to left that rolled to the wall, scoring Rivera. One batter later, Chone Figgins hit a sacrifice fly and Orlando Cabrera laced a single to left to score Kendrick to tie the game at 4-4.

Casey Kotchman then launched a 3-2 pitch just over the wall in right field to put Los Angeles ahead, 5-4. The two-run shot was Kotchman's 11th home run of the season and enabled Cabrera to record his career-high 100th run.

Galarraga was pulled after that, lasting 4 2/3 innings while giving up five runs on four hits, with four walks and four strikeouts.

But Texas came right back in the bottom of the inning. Laird tripled into the gap in right-center and Byrd smashed his career-high 10th homer to left to make it 6-5.

"We had a lead and they came back and put a five-spot up and actually took the wind out of our sails, and to come back that inning and get a guy on and Byrdy pop one out of the ballpark got the momentum back on our side," Laird said.

Bill White (2-0) threw 1 1/3 hitless innings to pick up the win.

Anaheim, which is still vying for home-field advantage in the playoffs, rallied in the eighth. Cabrera reached on an infield single and Kotchman walked. Both came around to score on a double by Rivera to cut the lead to 8-7, but that was as close as the Angels got.

Mike Wood managed to hold the lead and Wes Littleton threw a scoreless ninth for his second save.

Meanwhile, Santana (7-14) left after allowing six runs and eight hits in five innings. He fell to 1-10 on the road.

"Nobody's happy about losing a game anytime," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "After you take the lead, or after you score a run, keep momentum. It's important for that pitcher to put up a zero, and we weren't able to do it."

"I still don't feel good that we lost the game, but my pitches were there, my velocity was there," said Santana, who is now 1-4 with an 8.92 ERA in seven career starts in Texas. "There were some pitches that weren't where I wanted, and that hurt me. Nobody's perfect, I don't feel that's a step back at all."

The Rangers added a run in the sixth off Chris Bootcheck, as Jarrod Saltalamacchia tripled and scored on Travis Metcalf's single to right.

"Metcalf had a good at-bat, put the ball in play and that was the difference right there," Washington said. "That's a pretty good team, they don't ever stop. We got the runs we needed and it took eight to do it."

They tacked on another in the seventh when Hank Blalock singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch. He then came around to score on Nelson Cruz's RBI single to make it a three-run lead at 8-5.

Texas got to Santana in the first inning. Laird clubbed a double that one-hopped the wall in left field, followed by Young's RBI single up the middle.