Rangers edge Tigers in Game 1 of ALCS

Reporting from Arlington, Texas -- It had been five months since the Dallas-Fort Worth area had any appreciable rainfall, the drought hitting so hard ranchers have begun shipping cattle to Wyoming and Nebraska because there’s not enough grass growing to feed their animals.

Then the American League Championship Series started at the Ballpark in Arlington on Saturday night, and it seemed like the Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers would play until the cows came home.

Two rain delays totaling 1 hour and 50 minutes marred Game 1, but when the skies finally cleared, the Rangers bullpen threw a wet blanket over the Tigers, five relievers combining for 4 1/3 scoreless, one-hit innings to lead Texas to a 3-2 victory.

Left-hander Mike Gonzalez escaped a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the fifth inning, and right-hander Alexi Ogando threw two dominant, hitless innings, striking out three, to earn the win.

Darren Oliver, the 40-year-old left-hander, got the first two outs of the eighth, and right-hander Mike Adams struck out Jhonny Peralta to end the inning.

Closer Neftali Feliz gave up a bunt single to Ramon Santiago to open the ninth but struck out the next three batters -- Wilson Betemit, Austin Jackson and Ryan Raburn -- as Texas held on to win the opener of the best-of-seven series.

Some five hours after the first pitch, Feliz closed out the Rangers’ third straight one-run win in the playoffs by blowing a 99-mph fastball by Raburn.

“We have a great back of the bullpen, a lot of hard throwers and people who can get it done,” catcher Mike Napoli said. “They come into situations and execute their pitches.”

Napoli sparked a two-run rally off Tigers starter Justin Verlander with a leadoff single in the second inning. Napoli scored on David Murphy’s triple to right-center field, and Ian Kinsler hit a two-out, RBI single to right to make it 2-0.

Nelson Cruz gave the Rangers a 3-0 lead with a solo homer to left field, while Detroit, which lost No. 3 hitter Delmon Young to a rib-cage strain, failed to score despite hitting two singles in each of the first two innings.

The first rain delay, which lasted 41 minutes, came after Santiago led off the top of the fifth with a double.

Texas starter C.J. Wilson remained in the game, but the left-hander wasn’t as sharp as he was in the first four innings, when he induced double-play grounders to end the first and third and struck out the side in the fourth.

Jackson doubled to the right-center field gap to score Santiago and cut the lead to 3-1. Raburn and Miguel Cabrera walked to load the bases, and Wilson’s wild pitch brought home Jackson, making it 3-2.

Martinez grounded out to the mound, the runners holding, and Magglio Ordonez was intentionally walked to load the bases. The rains came again, this time delaying the game for 69 minutes.

That ended Wilson’s night. Gonzalez escaped the jam by getting Alex Avila to hit a grounder to second, though Kinsler’s wide throw to first nearly pulled Mitch Moreland off the bag.

“It didn’t slip, I just pulled the throw,” Kinsler said. “I think it kind of shocked Mitch and took the breath out of all of us for a second. I don’t know if the delay caused the bad throw, but it was really nice that Mitch caught that one.”

The second delay also forced Verlander out after four innings and 82 pitches, a short outing that opens the door for Manager Jim Leyland to bring the ace back on three days rest for Game 4 Wednesday instead of using him for Game 5 Thursday.

Verlander was replaced by right-hander Rick Porcello, who is scheduled to start Game 4.

Long before the rain, the Tigers seemed out of sorts on the mound and in the field, Verlander needing 49 pitches to get through the first two innings and Jackson dropping Elvis Andrus’ routine fly ball to right-center field in the first for a two-base error.

Verlander pitched out of trouble after the miscue, which was the result of a miscommunication between Jackson and right fielder Ordonez, but the error forced Verlander to throw 10 extra pitches in the inning.

“His control was not very good,” Leyland said of Verlander. “He didn’t really have his curveball going for strikes. I think he was probably trying to overthrow it a little bit.”

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com

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