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86-72 - Middle of order helps Rangers take care of Tigers

With a series win against Detroit tonight, and an Angels' loss to the A's, the Rangers have dropped their magic number to 2

Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

With the last couple of nights at the plate, I think the Rangers have definitively announced that the concerns over the weekend were unfounded. With the series win over the Tigers, Texas now has a magic number of two over the Angels (who inexplicably lost the Garrett Richards vs Barry Zito match-up tonight while allowing the most unearned runs by the franchise since 2008) and could have a magic number of one over the Astros if the Mariners hang on to their early lead in Seattle tonight.

If the Astros do indeed lose tonight, the Rangers can clinch the American League West as soon as tomorrow night.

Player of the Game: Adrian Beltre echoed Shin-Soo Choo and hit a huge two-run game-tying home run after the Rangers trailed 2-0 in the first. Mike Napoli hit a monster three-run home run to put the Rangers up 6-2 and continued to make Jeff Banister look like a genius. Yovani Gallardo threw what could be his final start of the season and finished with 180+ innings of above average work in 2015. For me though, the guy was Robinson Chirinos who hit a tie-breaking home run in the third inning a half inning after he threw out Rajai Davis attempting to steal with a laser throw. It's good to have the Rangers' best catcher back behind the plate.