Historical: Cruz seizes the moment

ARLINGTON, Texas – A fly ball to the outfield would have done it. So would a grounder through a drawn-in infield.

Nelson Cruz would have none of that. History was there for the taking, and the Texas slugger embraced it on Monday.

Cruz blasted a grand slam in the bottom of the 11th inning to lift the Rangers to a 7-3, walk-off victory over the Detroit Tigers in Game 2 of the American League championship series.

Cruz’s game-winner, a towering drive to left field at the Ballpark in Arlington, was his second homer of the game, third of the ALCS and, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, the first walk-off grand slam in postseason history.

With a crowd of 51,227 going wild and a mob awaiting him at home, Cruz pretended his helmet was a bowling ball, flinging it toward his teammates, who parted so Cruz could touch the plate.

The celebration of a tense, emotion-filled win that gave the Rangers a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series continued in the clubhouse.

“It was crazy,” said Cruz, whose solo homer off Max Scherzer tied the score, 3-3, in the seventh. “There was baby powder, beer, shaving cream, water. … They threw everything at me, but it was worth it.”

The Rangers survived a rocky start from Derek Holland, who allowed three runs and four hits, including Ryan Raburn’s three-run homer in the third, walked four and hit a batter in 2 2/3 innings.

They got 8 1/3 scoreless, four-hit innings from their bullpen, including long reliever Scott Feldman’s 4 1/3 -inning, one-hit, four-strikeout effort. Texas relievers have 12 2/3 scoreless innings in the series.

The Rangers escaped a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the top of the ninth when shortstop Elvis Andrus raced into shallow center to make an over-the-shoulder catch of Victor Martinez’s blooper, bobbling the ball and cradling it against his chest.

And they won despite failing to score after loading the bases with no outs in the bottom of the ninth against Detroit closer Jose Valverde, who got David Murphy to fly to shallow left and Mitch Moreland to ground into a first-to-home-to-first double play.

“I can honestly say that was probably the coolest game I’ve ever been a part of,” said Feldman, who went from a 17-win season as the team’s ace in 2009 to a long reliever in an injury plagued 2011.

“I thought my beard was going to turn gray. It was nerve-wracking, but it was awesome when (Cruz) walked it off at the end.”

There was some doubt Cruz would make it to the finish after he was drilled on the right wrist by a Valverde fastball in the ninth.

“I thought it was worse,” Cruz said. “If this was a regular-season game I might have come out. You want to stay in a playoff game.”

Texas closer Neftali Feliz pitched a scoreless 10th, and Mike Adams struck out two in a scoreless 11th.

No outs when winning run scored. a-flied out for Inge in the 9th.

E—Moreland (1). LOB—Detroit 13, Texas 6. 2B—Kelly (1), Mi.Cabrera (1), Jh.Peralta (1), J.Hamilton (1), A.Beltre 2 (2), N.Cruz (1). HR—Raburn (1), off D.Holland; N.Cruz (2), off Scherzer; N.Cruz (3), off Perry. RBIs—Raburn 3 (3), J.Hamilton (1), A.Beltre (1), N.Cruz 5 (6). S—Jh.Peralta, Inge. RLSP—Detroit 9, Texas 4. RMU—Mi.Cabrera, Avila 2, Mi.Young. GIDP—Moreland. DP—Detroit 2.

M.Gonzalez pitched to 1 batter in the 9th. Scherzer pitched to 1 batter in the 7th. Perry pitched to 4 batters in the 11th.

IR-S—Feldman 1-0, M.Gonzalez 1-0, Feliz 2-0. IBB—Napoli, Mi.Cabrera. HBP—N.Cruz, V.Martinez. T—4:25. A—51,227 (49,170).