Rangers Beat White Sox 7-1 Behind Vicente Padilla's Strong Outing

Vicente Padilla (W 2-2) Pitched 7 Innings and Only Gave Up 1 Run on 1 Hit For the Game.

Hank Blalock had 2 home runs and Chris Davis added another as the Texas Rangers continued their recent hot steak. The offensive performance combined with an excellent start from Padilla gave the Rangers a solid win in Chicago. Let's break it down:

Texas got on the board first early in the 2nd inning when Hank Blalock crushed a 2-1 pitch over the right field wall to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. That would be all for the inning as Nelson Cruz, David Murphy, and Chris Davis were put out in order to end the 2nd.

Chicago came right back in the bottom of the 2nd as Padilla struggled with his control. He started off with a walk of White Sox right fielder Jermaine Dye on 5 pitches. DH Jim Thome followed with another 5 pitch walk and the White Sox had runners on first and 2nd with no outs. Padilla started out the next batter with 2 straight strikes and caught a break when he got Paul Konerko to ground into a double play, Dye advanced to third. Vicente then threw a wild pitch to Chicago third baseman Wilson Betemit, which allowed Dye to score from third. Padilla then settled down to get Betemit to pop out to end the inning. His stats for the inning: 1 run allowed on 0 hits, 2 walks, and a wild pitch.

The Rangers got off to a quick start in the 5th inning on offense after Chris Davis hit a 1-1 pitch for a home-run to right-center, giving Texas a 2-1 lead. The inning was not done yet this time, though, after Jarred Saltalamacchia struck out Elvis Andrus singled to center field. Ian Kinsler followed with a bunt down the third base line for a single which gave the Rangers runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out. Omar Vizquel followed with a double that scored Andrus from 2nd and put Ian Kinsler on 3rd to give Texas a 3-1 lead. A drawn walk from Marlon Byrd loaded the bases but Hank Blalock followed with a pop out that left the Rangers with 2 outs. Chicago White Sox pitcher Bartolo Colon seemed to be having some control issues of his own as Nelson Cruz followed with a walk that brought home Kinsler and gave the Rangers a 4-1 lead. This left the bases loaded and finished Colon's night at 4.2 innings pitched and 5 earned runs on 5 hits. Clayton Richard relieved Colon and David Murphy hit an infield single that scored Vizquel from third, making it 5-1 Rangers. Chris Davis flied out to end the inning.

After consecutive fly-outs to the center fielder by Omar Vizquel and Marlon Byrd to start the top of the 7th, Hank Blalock came up to bat. Blalock hit yet another home-run over the right filed wall to make it 6-1 Rangers. Nelson Cruz struck out swinging to end the inning.

Vicente Padilla pitched a perfect bottom of the 7th against Chicago's 5-7 hitters. Padilla started the inning with Jim Thome and got him to strike out swinging. He followed that with a 2 pitch at- bat to Paul Konerko who popped out to left field and other 2 pitch at-bat that got Wilson Betemit to line out to Elvis Andrus to end the inning. Vicente Padilla night was finished and he got his ERA under 5.00 for the first time since his first game of the season (April 8th).

David Murphy led off the top of the 8th for the Rangers with a single to center field. Chris Davis followed with a double to the right center field wall that scored Murphy and made it 7-1 Texas. Saltalamacchia popped out, Andrus struck out, and Ian Kinsler grounded out to end the inning for the Rangers.

With the win today, the Rangers completed a 7 game road trip with a 5-2 record to bring their record to 17-14 on the season. Texas is 7-3 so far in the month of May.

Rangers Win 7-1

News and Notes:

• Hank Blalock is now tied for the team lead in Home Runs (9) with Ian Kinsler. Both players are tied for 4th in the American League.
• Chris Davis is tied for 8th at 8 Home Runs on the season.
• Michael Young missed his second consecutive game and is listed as Day-to-Day.
• Hank Blalock (2 RBI's) and Nelson Cruz (1 RBI) now both have 21 RBI's a piece for the season and are tied for 2nd on the team behind Ian Kinsler's 28.
  
• Vicente Padilla is now 2-0 in the month of May after starting 0-2 for the season. He has allowed 1 earned run (this game) and had 0 earned May 5th, against Seattle.