Nelson Cruz Powers Texas Rangers

Nelson Cruz Powers Texas Rangers
John Raffel

Detroit, MI

Nelson Cruz' bat seems to come alive during the postseason for the Texas Rangers.

That was evident especially on Monday when Cruz belted the first walk-off grand slam home in Major League Baseball postseason history in the 11th inning to give the Rangers a 7-3 win over the Tigers.

He also had a home run earlier in the game and also homered in game one on Saturday against Cy Young candidate Justin Verlander.

Cruz had four career walk-off home runs but none have been grand slams. His five RBI night helped to give the Rangers a 2-0 series lead which was cut in half with a 5-2 loss on Tuesday to the Tigers in Detroit

The Elias Sports Bureau noted that the only other player in Major League Baseball history to hit a game-tying and game-ending home run in a postseason game was Detroit's Magglio Ordonez in 2006 in an American League Championship Series game against Oakland.

His homers also gave Cruz nine home runs in his first 22 career postseason games, joining two other players in baseball history to pull off the feat. Carlos Beltran has 11 and Troy Glaus has nine

Cruz was hitless in the loss to Detroit in game 3. Detroit had three homers in the win against Texas seeming to create a trend for a home-run oriented series.

"We can't say if it's going to happen (again)," he said. "It's a part of the game."

The Rangers opened the game against Doug Fister with three straight singles and had a 1-0 lead but struggled offensively the rest of the way.

"He came back strong and found a way to get it done," Cruz said. "They're a good team."

The Rangers won the American League pennant a year ago but fell to San Francisco in the World Series. They're trying to make a return visit and got off to a solid 2-0 start in the ALCS.

"We try to win every game but we know this is going to happen," Cruz said. "They beat us. We just have to come back strong tomorrow. We've been in this situation before. We know what's at stake. We'll come back strong."

Cruz and the Rangers are in the playoffs for the second straight season and that factor, Cruz indicated, should be an asset for Texas the rest of the way.

Texas manager Ron Washington was asked if he would consider moving Cruz up from seventh in the lineup after his gigantic game 2.

"I don't think I ever said it's a possibility," Washington said. "I was asked the question and I said when I decide that I need to do that, I will do it. It works right now. You know I haven't thought about it because the same guys that's running from 1 to 6 still in the lineup and they're still holding our lineup together."

Cruz battled .263 during the regular season with 29 home runs and 87 RBI.