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Teixeira propels Angels past Tigers

Sep 3, 2008 - 3:55 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim aren't keeping track of their magic number, but they're winning ways haven't changed.

Mark Teixeira lifted a sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth inning to help the Angels edge the lowly Detroit Tigers, 5-4, in the opener of a three-game set on Tuesday, lowering their magic number to eight.

"I couldn't even tell you what our magic number is," Angels manager Mike Scoscia said. "We're looking to try and win tomorrow night."

Chone Figgins led the frame off with a walk and promptly stole second. He then took third after Garret Anderson grounded to second and Teixeira followed with his decisive at-bat against reliever Fernando Rodney (0-4).

"I just think it's playing baseball," Figgins said. "My goal is to get on base, try and steal bases and score runs and let the big boys take care of business."

Miguel Cabrera evened the score at 4-4 by belting a solo homer in the eighth off reliever Scot Shields (6-4), who was the benefactor.

"They kept it close and the guy hit a home run, like he always does, Cabrera," Angels outfielder Torii Hunter said. "We had to battle."

Francisco Rodriguez worked around a single and a walk in the bottom of the ninth to notch his 54th save of the season. The righthander is four saves away from breaking Bobby Thigpen's single-season record.

"He's (K-Rod) been doing great this season," Tigers outfielder Curtis Granderson said. "It's a mixture of everything. He seems to always do enough from an Angels standpoint to go ahead and give him just enough of a lead to allow him to be in the ballgame.

"Then when he comes in, he wants the ball, consistently ready for the ball. Even if he gets into a little trouble like he did tonight, he finds a way to get himself out of it."

In the fifth, the Angels took a 4-3 lead when reliever Gary Glover's throwing error allowed Brandon Wood to reach while Hunter trotted home. Hunter laced a one-out double and after Juan Rivera struck out, Mike Napoli took advantage of third baseman Ryan Raburn's throwing error, enabling Hunter to advance to third.

Trailing, 3-1, in the third, the Tigers evened the score when Magglio Ordonez and Cabrera smacked back-to-back RBI doubles against Angels starter Joe Saunders.

"Certainly everybody's got a lot of respect for them, they're one of the better teams in the league," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "Solid bullpen, they've got speed, they've got a lot of nice pieces and they play good.

"They've got an excellent manager, they do things right. Great ballgame. We had a chance to get the run back and we didn't do it."

Saunders surrendered three runs and eight hits in 6 1/3 innings, failing to win for the first time since July 30.

The All-Star lefthander was supported early, as Hunter connected on a two-run double in the first and later hit an RBI single in the third to give the Angels a 3-1 advantage.