Bizarre Day Ends With Rangers Win

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The Texas Rangers closed out the series in Baltimore with a 7-3 win to take the series three games to four.  The victory allowed Texas to split a doubleheader against the Orioles.

Josh Hamilton got the Rangers started with a 1st inning home run to right field with Elvis Andrus on base.  It was Hamilton’s 15th homer of the year and 6th in this series.

Texas relinquished the lead in the 2nd inning after committing 3 errors in the field.   As the defense settled in, the Ranger offense kept churning.  Nelson Cruz led off the 5th inning with a double and scored on a Mike Napoli triple. Napoli then scored on an Andrus single.

The Rangers score 3 more in the 7th.  Andrus knocks in Mitch Moreland, Ian Kinsler scores on a force out by Adrian Beltre, and Andrus scores on a slow roller by Michael Young.

Starting pitcher Derek Holland did not give up any earned runs in his 6 innings.  Holland struck out 5 and allowed just 4 hits.  Alexi Ogando, Mike Adams, and Joe Nathan each pitched shutout innings to close the game.

This came after the first game of the day when the Orioles hit 3 home runs from their first 3 batters.  Rangers manager Ron Washington stayed with starting pitcher Colby Lewis who settled down and got the next 18 consecutive batters out.  Lewis then gave up 2 more home runs in the 7th inning.  Lewis struck out a career-high 12 batters, but each of the 4 hits against him cleared the wall.  Lewis became the first pitcher in MLB history to give up 5 home runs while striking out 10 or more batters.

The Rangers rallied to pull within 1 run in the 9th after David Murphy blasted a 3-run home run off reliever Jim Johnson.  Texas failed to get the final run needed and lost 6-5.

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