Home Cookin'

Rangers manage to take two of three from the best team (record-wise) in baseball. Tommy Hunter's (above) complete game, five-hitter led Texas to a 6-1 victory on Saturday. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

For only the third time this season, the Texas Rangers (30-26) have taken a series against a team with a winning record. What's even more impressive is that it was against the team with the best overall record and road record in the Major Leagues, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (37-20).

Texas won with it's bats in game one, Friday night, as five Rangers knocked in at least one run. For the game, the Rangers cranked out nine runs on 13 hits, chasing starter Wade Davis (L, 5-5) after only 3 1-3 innings. Texas did the majority of it's damage in the fourth inning, an inning in which Rangers' batters batted around, scoring seven runs as they held a 9-4 lead going into the fifth. Vladimir Guerrero played in his first contest since the batting practice incident that left him with a swollen left eye and knocked in all three of his RBI for the game in the fourth with a bases clearing double.

"Generally when we score six runs, we win with the way we pitch and play defense," Rays' manager Joe Madden said.

Starter C.J. Wilson (W, 4-3) allowed only three earned on six hits for the game, but his five innings left the bullpen hung out to dry once again as five relievers had to close out the final four innings. Neftali Feliz registered his 15th save of the season to close out the ninth, but Texas can thank it's bats for this victory as it beat a good team with one huge inning.

Saturday saw Texas win with it's starter going deep into the game, a rarity as of late. Tommy Hunter (W, 1-0), making his first start of the season, pitched nine innings of five-hit, one run baseball for the second complete-game of his career. Despite temperatures on the field reaching over 100 degrees in this afternoon contest, Hunter was able to close out the game after 117 pitches.

"It was hot," Hunter said. "There's nothing else to say. It was hot. They made sure I was OK. They asked me, 'Are you all right?' I said I'm good. They let me go out and finish the job."

On the offensive side Elvis Andrus and Josh Hamilton knocked in two runs apiece as Texas battled Rays' starter James Shields (L, 5-4) all-game long. Shields managed to scatter 10 hits over seven innings, allowing three earned runs, but two Tampa Bay errors tacked on three more Rangers' runs as Texas took the game 6-1.

Sunday's game didn't go quite as well for Texas. Another quickie by a starting pitcher left the Rangers' overworked bullpen high-and-dry once again. Rich Harden (L,3-2) lasted only five innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on four hits and three walks. Harden did strike out six, but the three walks and two home runs are a few of the disturbing tendencies he has shown all-season long.

Matt Treanor went 2 for 2 with two solo home runs for the Rangers and Texas did pound out 10 hits and score five runs. However, it wasn't enough as the combination of Harden and the beleaguered bullpen (four innings pitched, nine hits, five runs) allowed the Rays to avoid the sweep. Rays leadoff hitter John Jaso provided the offensive pop for Tampa Bay as he went 3 for 5, with a home run and five RBI.

"It was great to win at the end of the road trip," Jaso said of the Rays salvaging a 3-3 road swing. "It lifts your spirits going home."

While Texas did falter in the final game of the series, the Rangers should still be able to hold their collective heads high knowing that they were able to play a high-level of baseball with the best team in the Majors.

Texas takes on the Seattle Mariners (22-34) Monday night with a 7:05 p.m. scheduled start time. Scott Feldman (3-5, 5.82 ERA) takes the mound for Texas while Cliff Lee (3-2, 2.91) gets the start for Seattle.

News and Notes:

• Texas now has three complete games this season, tied for fourth-most in the Majors.
• Josh Hamilton has raised his batting average 20 points (.281 to .301) over the last seven games. Hamilton has two home runs and seven RBI over this time-span.
• The seven runs the Rangers scored in the fourth inning of Friday's game is the most they've scored in an inning all-season long.
• Tampa Bay is now 2-7 at the Ballpark in Arlington since the beginning of last season. Texas has outscored the Rays 69-36 during the stretch.

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