ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Nathan Eovaldi weathered a three-run Detroit uprising after taking a no-hitter into the fifth inning and Elias Díaz, Josh Smith and Evan Carter hit solo home runs to help the Texas Rangers beat the Tigers 10-4 on Thursday night.
The Rangers matched a season high with 17 hits en route to their seventh victory in eight games. The Tigers arrived at Globe Life Field after sweeping three games at Yankee Stadium.
Eovaldi (9-7) allowed only one walk through four innings and matched a season high with nine strikeouts in winning his fourth consecutive start, pitching five-plus innings. Detroit’s Colt Keith led off the fifth by homering on an 0-2 cut fastball above the strike zone. Hao-Yu Lee added a two-run homer that barely cleared the wall in left, just beyond Alejandro Osuna’s reach.
Eovaldi allowed five hits in the fifth inning and was pulled leading 5-3 after Riley Greene led off the sixth with a double. Peyton Gray, Texas’ third pitcher in the sixth, struck out Lee with the bases loaded to end the inning.
Díaz’s home run came in Texas’ three-run second inning, his second in two games.
Smith, recalled from Triple-A Round Rock on Wednesday after previously missing 37 games primarily due to viral meningitis, hammered a first-pitch fastball for his first homer of the season and his first career pinch-hit homer in the sixth.
Carter, activated from the injured list on Sunday, homered in the eighth.
Osuna and Nicky Lopez each had three hits.
Framber Valdez (4-6) allowed five runs on nine hits and two walks in five innings. That ended Detroit’s club-record 35-game streak of starting pitchers allowing no more than four runs.
Up next
The series will takes a break on Friday with a World Cup game between Australia and Egypt at the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium. On Saturday, Tigers RHP Jack Flaherty (1-8, 4.97 ERA) was scheduled to face Rangers RHP Kumar Rocker (2-6, 3.83).
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