Rangers Beat White Sox
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ARLINGTON, Texas — A six-run sixth inning propelled the Texas Rangers to a 10-6 win over the Chicago White Sox Tuesday night at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
Adrian Beltre put a stamp on the sixth with a two-run home run after beginning the at-bat with the bases loaded. Back-to-back wild pitches brought runners home and Beltre sent the Rangers (17-9) third home run of the game into the bleachers in left field to extend the lead to 10-4.
Mitch Moreland knocked a double to left-center field to begin the rally, scoring Geovany Soto. Back-to-back singles from Ian Kinsler and Elvis Andrus continued the inning with two-out, and Lance Berkman walked to load the bases for Beltre.
“We got some big hits and they just kept coming,” Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington said. “The back-to-back home runs were sweet. We go to their starter and from that point on we were swinging the bat.”
Moreland finished with a team-high three hits on two singles and a double to extend his hitting streak to five consecutive games.
“We all had big games tonight,” Moreland said. “We had a lot of key hits and were able to put up some runs through the middle innings. It was a lot of fun and a good game to
win after coming off a tough couple of games in Minnesota.”
Jeff Baker was joined by Andrus and Kinsler with two hits in the contest. Kinsler and Beltre each had two RBI while Kinsler added two runs.
Yu Darvish (5-1) came within one strikeout of his third consecutive double-digit effort on the night, finishing with nine in six innings pitched. Darvish continued to struggle throughout the opening inning, giving up two runs in the first on four hits. The right-hander entered the game allowing five runs in the first overall, and one throughout the remainder.
“It was one of those nights where Darvish wasn’t as sharp as he would have liked to have been but he always finds a way to get it done,” Washington said. “He finds something in his repertoire of pitches to continue to get outs. He had a rough first inning and then put up four zeros.”
Washington admitted that Darvish was a bit erratic in the start, but said he was proud of the way that his pitcher battled through the struggle and didn’t give in.
Darvish walked three and gave up seven hits in the win, his third straight.
The Rangers starter would give up another pair in the sixth before the Rangers rallied back into the lead.
Nelson Cruz and Baker went back-to-back with home runs in the third to get the Rangers on the board, each coming with two out.
Texas plated two again in the fifth on three singles and a double. Craig Gentry reached on a fielder’s choice with the double play attempt going into the Ranger’s dugout to push Gentry to second. Gentry came around to score on the next at-bat when Kinsler doubled down the left field line, advancing to third on a throwing error.
Andrus sent the next pitch to center field to bring home Kinsler.
“We were taking advantage of mistakes,” Kinsler said. “We put ourselves in a good position of their mistakes. Darvish threw the ball well enough for us. He didn’t have his best stuff but he was one pitch away from getting through the sixth with giving up just two runs.”
The White Sox (10-15) answered the Rangers rally in the top of the sixth to tie the game. Hector Gimenez extended the inning by reaching first when Darvish was just off the base attempting to complete a double play.
Darvish would hang a 2-2 curve ball to Wise in the next at-bat, a pitch Wise sent into the right field bleachers. Wise was 4-4 in the game, with three hits coming against Darvish after entering 0-13 against the Rangers starter.
Chicago added another two-out home run in the top of the seventh after Darvish departed. A 12 2/3 scoreless streak for Tanner Scheppers came to an end when Adam Dunn hit his sixth home run of the season, a solo shot to left.
Jose Quintana (2-1) picked up his first loss of the season after pitching five innings. Quintana gave up four earned runs on eight hits, including two of the three Texas home runs.
