Adrian Beltre smashed three solo home runs to power Texas past Tampa Bay 4-3 Tuesday, advancing the Rangers to the American League finals of the Major League Baseball playoffs. The reigning league champion Rangers, who beat Tampa Bay three games to one in the best-of-five series, will face either Detroit or the New York Yankees in the best-of-seven league championship series that begins Saturday. In Detroit, Michigan, outfielder Curtis Granderson made two stunning catches as the Yankees overpowered the Tigers 10-1 to level their series at two games each. The Yankees exploded for a half dozen runs in the eighth inning to force Thursday's decisive game five. Two-time all-star Granderson also had an RBI double for New York who recorded 13 hits, including seven singles in the eighth inning, on Tuesday. He made a leaping grab of Don Kelly's line drive hit in the first inning to spoil the Tigers' bases-loaded rally. Five innings later, Granderson made an even more impressive running-diving catch to likely save more Detroit runs from scoring. Derek Jeter put the Yankees ahead to stay with a two-run double in the third inning. Jeter bounced back from a rough outing in a game three loss as he struck out to end Monday's contest. Beltre, 1-for-11 at the plate in the playoffs before Tuesday, became only the sixth player to hit three homers in the same Major League Baseball playoff game, the first since Adam Kennedy of the Anaheim Angels in 2002. “The first couple games, their pitching was pretty good,” Beltre said. “Today something changed. I felt real good and I was able to help my team win.” The 32-year-old Dominican third baseman missed his chance to go 4-for-4 in homers by flying out to right field in the eighth inning. Beltre is still seeking a World Series title after stops with the Angels, Seattle and last year at Boston. The veteran of 14 major league seasons hopes to power the Rangers back into the World Series after they lost their first trip to the title showdown last year to San Francisco.
