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Kinsler, Wilson lead Rangers past Rays

Sep 2, 2011 - 5:15 AM Arlington, TX (Sports Network) - Ian Kinsler hit a pair of solo home runs to back C.J. Wilson's quality outing, helping the Texas Rangers defeat the Tampa Bay Rays, 7-2, in the rubber match of a three-game series.

Wilson (14-6) retired the first 15 hitters he faced and struck out eight over six-plus frames. He allowed two runs on two hits and a walk to bounce back from a forgettable five-inning, six-run effort against the Angels on Saturday.

Michael Young also went deep for AL West-leading Texas, which welcomed back Adrian Beltre from the disabled list and won for the fourth time in six games.

Jeff Niemann (9-6) lost his second decision since returning from the disabled list in late June, as he allowed five runs on six hits in five innings.

Kelly Shoppach homered for the Rays, who have lost three of their last four.

"It's very frustrating," Rays third baseman Evan Longoria said, referring to the club's offensive struggles. "We know it's there. We've seen it at times, it's just been so inconsistent,"

The Rangers hold a 3 1/2-game division lead over the Angels. They looked every bit like a playoff team Thursday, pushing three across in the second and getting solo home runs from Kinsler and Young in the fifth.

Beltre, who had been sidelined since July 23, appeared fully recovered from his hamstring injury when he scored from first on David Murphy's double to the left-field gap in the second frame.

Yorvit Torrealba followed with an RBI single, then scored on Endy Chavez's triple for a 3-0 cushion.

Wilson was in pursuit of perfection before Casey Kotchman grounded one back up the middle leading off the sixth. Wilson caught a piece of the bouncer with his bare hand, but Kotchman beat out Kinsler's off-balanced throw from behind the second-base bag.

Tampa Bay's first baserunner was quickly erased when Justin Ruggiano bounced into a 4-6-3 double play, but Shoppach followed by depositing a 1-2 offering into the left-field seats.

"[Wilson] was real good until he took that ball over his finger," Rangers manager Ron Washington said of his starter. "He was real sharp."

Wilson plunked Sean Rodriguez and walked Evan Longoria to begin the seventh and was promptly pulled having thrown only 88 pitches. Koji Uehara entered and struck out Ben Zobrist and B.J. Upton before Darren Oliver yielded a pinch- hit, RBI single to Matt Joyce.

Kinsler took Brandon Gomes over the center-field wall in the seventh to get a run back, and Beltre nearly went deep in the eighth, only to have Joyce take a home run away with a perfectly-timed jump at the right-field wall.

Torrealba's RBI single later in the eighth accounted for the final margin.

Game Notes

The Rangers have advanced to the postseason each time they led the AL West at the end of August, doing so in 1996, 1999 and 2010...Kinsler has 11 career multi-home run games...Beltre went 1-for-4 in his return...Niemann had won eight of his previous nine decisions...Texas heads to Boston on Friday to start a three-game series...Tampa Bay hosts the Orioles for the three-game set this weekend.