Rangers Win 4th Straight
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ARLINGTON, Texas — The three-game sweep of the American League West-leading Houston Astros has the Texas Rangers thinking big and feeling good.
Just ask manager Jeff Banister.
“Put a lot of energy in that dugout and on the field, and solidified the belief in where these guys think that can go, the confidence they have,” he said after Wednesday night’s 4-3 win at Globe Life Park. “We’ve talked about playing at home, being able to win at home and playing clean baseball. It was a big series for us, not only at home, but against the team in first place and one of the ball clubs we’re trying to run down.”
Texas (54-53) has won four straight, the last three coming against its in-state rivals, and finished a 10-game homestand at 7-3. The Rangers also moved within five games of Houston (60-49) in the division and are two games out of the second wild card.
The Rangers scored all four of their runs against Houston ace Scott Kazmir (6-6), though only one was earned. It was enough, however, to make a winner of starter Nick Martinez (7-6) on his 25th birthday.
Houston managed only four hits but drew a season-high eight walks. The Astros, losers of five in a row on the road, went 2-11 with runners in scoring position.
Texas has an off day before opening a series Friday at Seattle. Houston plays at Oakland starting Thursday.
“We had opportunities in the sixth and ninth, but we obviously need to get out of town and get to a new series,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “We didn’t play very well this series.”
Martinez was done after five innings, having allowed one run on
one hit. The bullpen, initially, wasn’t as effective.
The Astros scored two runs in the sixth against relievers Phil Klein and Sam Freeman, who combined to issue four walks in the inning.
With Texas clinging to a one-run lead, manager Jeff Banister turned to reliever Spencer Patton with the bases loaded and two outs. Patton got left fielder Jake Marisnick to fly out before working a clean seventh. Jake Diekman tossed a scoreless eighth.
Rangers closer Shawn Tolleson had the night off, leaving the ninth to reliever Sam Dyson. Dyson had to dance around the two runners he put on in the ninth before picking up his second save.
“You’re kind of used to the stressful situations,” he said. “It’s nice to get thrown into the fire right away and get your feet wet. I think that helps with the stress.”
Diekman and Dyson were both picked up at the trade deadline, and have taken integral roles late in games.
“You’ve got to tip our hats to these guys in the bullpen,” Rangers catcher Chris Gimenez said. “They did a great job this whole homestand. It’s kind of that theory of bend and do not break. That’s what we did tonight. We have some guys now to come in and shut the door.”
The Rangers got on the board with three runs in the first thanks to two Houston errors, including one by Kazmir, a walk and two hits. All the runs were unearned.
“The whole game starts in the first inning,” Hinch said. “They had two singles, three runs, two errors, a walk. We just didn’t get into the game.”
Texas got a sacrifice fly from designated hitter Prince Fielder and run-scoring singles from first baseman Mitch Moreland and shortstop Elvis Andrus.
Kazmir’s ERA did take a hit in the second, as Gimenez drilled a home run to straightaway center to make it 4-0. The Gimenez solo shot matched the one earned run Kazmir allowed in July.
Houston got a run back in the fourth against Martinez. Third baseman Jed Lowrie doubled to center to bring home center fielder Carlos Gomez.
The Rangers gave outfielders Josh Hamilton and Shin-Soo Choo the night off at the start, though Choo pinch-hit in the seventh and remained in the game.
