Texas Rangers

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — When Justin Grimm threw his last pitch, the Texas Rangers were trailing the AL West-leading Oakland Athletics. Read more Justin Grimm news

With a win on Wednesday, the Rangers guaranteed themselves no worse than a split in their critical four-game series with the A’s. Here’s a roundup of all our coverage from the day: Murphy, bats come alive as Rangers rally for 9-4 win It was eerily familiar… Rangers jump ahead early, then the bats go silent and the … [visit site to read more]

Justin Grimm’s June was going by way too fast. Given his struggles (an 11.40 ERA in 15 innings) in his three starts before Wednesday, that could’ve been seen as a good thing. But the speed of the game was exactly the problem for Grimm. “When the game speeds up on you, you do one thing on the mound,” Grimm said, “you speed up. You get out of control.” Grimm focused on slowing down Wednesday night. It allowed him to become the first Rangers starter to record a win in June. He went five … [visit site to read more]

Texas Rangers first baseman Mitch Moreland completed an injury-rehabilitation assignment with Double-A Frisco by going 3-for-5 with a homer and a double against Midland of the Oakland organization. In three games on the assignment, Moreland was 6-for-12 and had no problems with the strained right hamstring that put him on the disabled list. He ran hard on three doubles and also scored from second on a single. Moreland will work out with the Rangers on Thursday and come off the disabled … [visit site to read more]

Oakland hitting coach Chili Davis suggested his club has a mental advantage on Rangers right-hander Yu Darvish. Darvish on Tuesday lost his fourth consecutive decision against the Athletics, allowing five runs in six innings. For his last four starts against Oakland, Darvish is 0-4 with a 5.18 ERA and five homers allowed in 241/3 innings. “I think we’re in his mind more than he’s in our minds,” Davis told the Oakland Tribune. “We make him throw all his pitches. We swing … [visit site to read more]

ARLINGTON — The season of the changing lineup continued for the Rangers on Wednesday as manager Ron Washington used his 50th lineup in 72 games. A year ago, Washington used 79 lineups. His high for a season is 139 in 2007, his first year on the job. This lineup featured center fielder Craig Gentry sitting against a left-handed starter for the first time this season and Nelson Cruz hitting third for the first time since September, 2010. The Rangers have used four hitters in the third … [visit site to read more]

With a win tonight, the Rangers have secured at least a tie in this series and will be no worse than three games out come Friday. In that respect, tonight was a pretty big game and it was great to see the offense come alive. Player of the Game: King Leonys Martin continues to deliver from the bottom of the order of late. Tonight he was 2-3 with a walk, stolen base, and two runs scored.

ARLINGTON – Justin Grimm became the first starter to win a game this month, David Murphy and Leonys Martin sparked a struggling offense from the bottom of the order and the Texas Rangers rolled to a 9-4 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday. The Rangers have won two of the first three of a four-game series against the A’s, and will look to win the series Thursday afternoon. They pulled within two games of the A’s in the American League West standings. Grimm started strong with four scoreless innings, and was pitching with the lead after a two-run homer by Lance Berkman in the second inning. But Grimm ran into trouble in the fifth and it appeared the dubious 17-game June drought of a starter not winning a game would extend on. Grimm gave up three runs that inning, all scoring on a two-out three-run homer by Chris Young, who entered the game with a .186 average. The Rangers answered in the home half of the fifth, though, with Murphy and Martin leading off with singles. Ian Kinsler drove in Murphy on a sacrifice fly and Martin had a nice slide into home plate to score on a grounder by Nelson Cruz. The Rangers then broke it open with four runs in the sixth. Robinson Chirinos, Murphy and Martin all had one-out singles, and Kinsler, Cruz and Adrian Beltre came through with RBI hits. Texas cushioned its lead to 9-3 in the seventh when A.J. Pierzynski scored on a wild pitch. Murphy had a season-high three hits, and Cruz also had three hits in his first start in the three-hole this season. The nine runs were the most the Rangers scored since another nine-run game on May 30, and their 14 hits were the most they’ve had this month. -- Drew Davison

Go Rangers!

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Slumping Josh Hamilton has been dropped to seventh in the Angels lineup by manager Mike Scioscia for Wednesday night’s game against Seattle. View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Texas Rangers News