Friday, Jul. 30, 2010

Rangers cruise past A's

Texas extends lead over Oakland to 8½

ARLINGTON, Texas — Oakland was on a 9-2 roll before running into the Texas Rangers. They've dropped two of their last three and now stand 8½ games behind the AL West leaders.

David Murphy hit a 431-foot home run, Taylor Teagarden hit his first homer of the season and Mitch Moreland had two hits in his major league debut, helping the Rangers beat the Oakland Athletics 7-3 on Thursday night.

Oakland starter Vin Mazzaro (6-3) had won four straight, but had one of his worst starts of the year, giving up seven runs and 12 hits over 5 1/3 innings. He struck out three and walked one.

"My slider wasn't biting as much as it has in the past," Mazzaro said. "I left a few up and they had some pretty good swings."

The win capped a 5-2 homestand against division rivals for the Rangers, who stretched their lead in the AL West by 3½ games during that stretch and head back on the road 8½ games ahead of the A's.

Starter C.J. Wilson (10-5) wasn't feeling well and didn't look very sharp, laboring through 5º innings. He gave up an early run, but went back out for the second inning leading 2-1 behind the new-look lineup.

With usual No. 3 hitter Ian Kinsler going on the disabled list, Josh Hamilton moved up to his spot from No. 5 and Nelson Cruz moved up a notch from No. 6. The first time through the order, Michael Young singled and Hamilton moved him to third with a double.

Vladimir Guerrero drove in Young with a groundout, then Cruz drove in Hamilton with a single. Young finished 4-for-4, scoring his first three times up. Hamilton went 3-for-4, scoring once.

Oakland was within 4-3 when the rest of the Texas lineup came through in the sixth. Murphy homered, then Joaquin Arias — who replaced Kinsler at second base — beat out a grounder to shortstop for a single, then scored on Teagarden's homer. Teagarden started the season in the majors but was sent down because of his poor hitting. He came up Saturday after Matt Treanor was hurt and was 1-for-29 the entire season when he put the ball into the seats in right-center.

"It was a fastball and I got some wood on it," Teagarden said. "The situation there, to tack on a few more runs felt great."

Moreland singled in his first at-bat and went 2-for-4, with a drive to the warning track in center among his outs. His girlfriend and parents were in the stands to watch.

Kevin Kouzmanoff doubled twice for Oakland, and Matt Carson and Rajai Davis each had two hits. Davis was caught in a rundown to end the game.