Taking Care Of Business - Rangers Sweep Royals With 6-4 Win

Elvis Andrus is safe sliding into home in the third inning of Sunday's game. Texas scored four runs in the inning. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

It's about time the Rangers' bullpen starting putting in some work.

Texas' starter Scott Feldman lasted only four innings, giving up four runs on six hits, but four Rangers' relivers combined to shut-out the Kansas City Royals (11-21). The bullpen allowed only two hits in the final five innings of the game, as the Texas Rangers (18-14) closed out a four-game sweep.

Doug Mathis, Darren Oliver, Darren O'Day, and Neftali Feliz shut down the struggling Royals, who completed their 11-game road trip at 3-8.

"It was bad," Royals Manager Trey Hillman said. "It was real bad."

David Murphy provided some punch on offense, going 3 for 4 with two RBI and a run. Murphy has seen his batting average rise steadily since taking the injured Nelson Cruz' spot in the lineup.

"He did what he does, which is swing the bat and knock in some big runs," Manager Ron Washington said. "I've said all along we are going to need Murph."

While it would be hard to justify benching a healthy Cruz, who still leads the team in home-runs despite missing the last 12 games due to an injured hamstring, his replacement Murphy has shown a penchant for knocking in big runs as of late. Murphy knocked in four runs this series, while his batting average has risen nearly 40 points (from .190 to .229) in the last four games.

Max Ramirez knocked in the go-ahead run in the fifth inning with a double to right and Michael Young tacked on another run in the eighth inning, giving the Rangers some breathing room with a 6-4 lead. Neftali Feliz closed out the game, needed only 11 pitches (seven strikes) for his ninth save of the season.

What a way to go into a day off with four straight victories and having won seven of nine overall. The Royals aren't a very good team, but a four-game sweep is just what the Rangers should do to a team of this caliber.

The Rangers get a day off tomorrow after having played 20 straight games. Texas went 13-7 during this time and Washington believes the steady flow of games helped his team.

"It seemed when we started playing baseball every day, things began to fall into place," Washington said.

Texas takes on the team that's chasing them for first in the division, the Oakland Athletics (17-15), opening up a three-game set at the Ballpark on Tuesday night. Currently, the Rangers are one game ahead of the A's for first in the American League West.

(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)