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Loe, Rangers take opener against Tigers

Jun 26, 2007 - 4:07 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- Kameron Loe helped the Texas Rangers win for the fifth time in their last six contests.

Loe pitched seven solid innings and Marlon Byrd drove in three runs to lead the Rangers to an 8-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers in the opener of a four-game series on Monday.

Loe (4-6) yielded two runs and seven hits with two walks. The 25-year-old righthander has posted a 3-0 record with a 2.08 ERA and 12 strikeouts in three starts since June 14.

"I just got the feeling," Loe said. "Baseball is a game of feelings. I went down to Triple A for a couple of days and had been scuffling. Then when I got back and made the start in Pittsburgh it all came back. The good pitching feeling was back."

After loading the bases and allowing a run to score on Carlos Guillen's sacrifice fly in the first inning, Loe settled down and did not allow another run until the seventh.

"I was lucky to get out of the first with only one run," Loe said. "But it was even bigger not to let them score in the second. I was able to stay ahead of the hitters and all of my pitches."

Byrd gave Texas a 2-1 lead in the third when his two-out base hit plated Ian Kinsler and Michael Young.

"This was a big win over a filthy pitcher like Bonderman," Byrd said. "We put some timely hitting together in the third and Loe took it from there."

Byrd, who has posted a .378 batting average this season, added another RBI in the ninth with another two-out single which scored Kinsler.

The Rangers gave Loe all the offense he needed with two outs in the third inning. After Tigers starter Jeremy Bonderman (8-1) got the first two hitters out, the Rangers were able to score four runs on four hits, a walk and an error. Following Byrd's two-run single, Sammy Sosa scored on Bonderman's fielding error and a single by Adam Melhuse scored Byrd but Frank Catalanotto was thrown out at home.

"The throwing error by Bonderman was big," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "It allowed us to get four runs instead of two against a great team like the Tigers. When a team like that gives you an opportunity who have to take it."

Jerry Hairston blasted a two-run homer to left-center off Detroit reliever Eulogio de la Cruz to give Texas an 8-2 advantage.

The Tigers had a seven-game winning streak snapped and Bonderman recorded his first regular-season loss since September 10, 2006. The 24-year-old righthander pitched seven innings, surrendering four runs and seven hits with four walks and a season-high nine strikeouts.

"I tried to slide-step on a breaking ball, tried to trick a guy and hung a breaking ball and gave up two runs," Bonderman said. "I had a chance to get out of that inning and I threw the ball away so it's all on my shoulders. I didn't do what I had to do to win today."

Guillen's sixth-inning single extended his hitting streak to 12 games.

"We got beat tonight, plain and simple," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "They played better than we did. Loe pitched outstanding. We didn't do very good tonight."