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Darvish solid as Rangers down A's

May 17, 2012 - 5:32 AM

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Arlington, TX (Sports Network) - Yu Darvish pitched into the eighth inning for his sixth win and Adrian Beltre hit a two-run homer, leading the Texas Rangers to a 4-1 win over the Oakland Athletics in the opener of a two-game series on Wednesday.

Darvish (6-1) struck out seven, walked two and gave up Oakland's only run in the first inning. The 25-year-old rookie allowed just four hits, lowering his ERA to 2.60 and pushing his strikeout total to 58 in 52 innings.

"He took us as deep in the game as he possibly could," said Rangers manager Ron Washington. "He was very efficient tonight. He loaded up the strike zone and that's what he had to do -- make them swing the bat."

Beltre's homer came during a four-run fourth inning for the Rangers, who broke a two-game losing streak.

Josh Hamilton extended his hitting streak to 16 games with an infield single in the fourth inning and scored on Beltre's two-run homer for a 2-1 lead. He finished 2-for-4.

A's starter Tommy Milone (5-3) gave up four runs on nine hits and a walk in seven innings. He struck out four but had his three-start unbeaten streak snapped.

"I felt like I went out there, threw strikes and was pounding the zone," said Milone. "They're just a good-hitting team. They put the ball in play and made things happen."

Jemile Weeks led off the game with a double, went to third on a ground out and scored Oakland's only run on Josh Reddick's sacrifice fly.

After Hamilton legged out a slow bouncer to second base leading off the fourth inning, Beltre went down on his right knee to smack Milone's first-pitch changeup over the right field wall for an opposite field homer and 2-1 lead.

The Rangers rallied for two more runs and a 4-1 edge on RBI singles from Craig Gentry and Elvis Andrus. Gentry's hit was fielded by third baseman Josh Donaldson, who double-clutched and threw late to first.

Darvish faced the minimum between the fourth and seventh innings but came out after giving up a two-out single to Weeks in the eighth, which put runners at first and second. Mike Adams struck out Jonny Gomes to end the inning and Joe Nathan fanned the side in the ninth for his eighth save.

Game Notes

Texas went 13-6 against the A's last season...Hamilton has 25 hits, 10 homers and 26 RBI during his hitting streak...The Rangers are 3-3 on a seven-game homestand that ends Thursday....Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler was out with a stomach virus...The A's are 1-2 on a seven-game road trip.






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