Rangers Beat Giants

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ARLINGTON, Texas — Texas Rangers left-hander Martin Perez retired just three batters in his start last Tuesday against the New York Yankees.

However, Sunday against the San Francisco Giants he was nearly unhittable.

Perez, who was making just his fourth start since returning from Tommy John surgery, allowed just two hits in 8 1/3 innings as the Rangers edged the Giants 2-1.

Perez didn’t allow a hit until the fifth inning and was pulled after allowing a one-out double to San Francisco center fielder Angel Pagan in the ninth inning. Pagan eventually came around to score before Sam Dyson got a double-play grounder from San Francisco designated hitter Hunter Pence to secure the win for Perez and earn his first career save.

Perez needed just 80 pitches to retire 25 batters. He struck out six and didn’t walk a batter in earning his first win of the season. He’s the first big leaguer to retire at least 25 batters on 80 or fewer pitches since Kansas City’s Luke Hochevar did it in a complete-game win on June 12, 2009.

“My sinker was there, my changeup was amazing and my heartbeat was resting,” Perez said. “I think that was the key. When I got the timing of the game I get quick outs and I get games like today. I want to continue to do that and just be ready for my next start.”

As good as Perez was, he didn’t have any run support until the

sixth inning. That’s when Texas left fielder Josh Hamilton smacked a two-run homer off new San Francisco starter Mike Leake. Leake had retired the first two batters of the inning before first baseman Mitch Moreland singled ahead of Hamilton.

That was all the support Perez needed. He set the tone with a five-run first and didn’t allow a hit until Justin Maxwell’s two-out infield single in the fifth inning. Texas manager Jeff Banister said after eight innings he was going batter by batter with Perez and turned the game over to the bullpen.

“He (Perez) threw the ball well,” Banister said. “He pounded the strike zone. You could look up at the board and see the number of strikes to the number of balls, he pounded the strike zone all day long. More than anything else, I think the pace he went throughout his business and kept these guys in swing mode, he was able to get them to hit the ball on the ground.”

San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said the Perez the Giants faced was different from the one who had a 10.50 ERA in his three starts coming into Sunday’s game.

“He hit his spots, kept it down, was pitching to contact,” Bochy said. “We smothered a lot of balls off him. We couldn’t get his count up. Was one of the better games we’ve had pitched against us. Good change-up, slider to go with his fastball. Located well. Really hit only two or three balls decent.”

Leake didn’t pitch badly either. He allowed just the two runs on eight hits in his 6 1/3 innings. The eight hits were the most he’d allowed in a start since July 5 but he spread them around as no Texas batter had more than one hit.

Leake was nearly off the hook in the ninth. After Perez was pulled, left-hander Jake Diekman walked left fielder Nori Aoki and was pulled for Dyson. Dyson allowed back-to-back singles to third baseman Matt Duffy and catcher Buster Posey before getting Pence to hit a grounder to Texas shortstop Elvis Andrus.

The Giants rallied from three down in the eighth Saturday for a 9-7 win and thought they had another chance Sunday.

“It definitely felt like it was going to happen again,” Pence said. “We all think we’re going to win until the last out is made. I definitely don’t feel great about my at-bat. Grounding into a double play with a 2-0 count, but you’ve also got to give some credit to Dyson.”

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