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Murray, Wright leads Rangers past Angels

Sep 26, 2007 - 4:12 AM By John Tranchina PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) -- As the Texas Rangers get a look at their young players during the late part of the 2007 season, there seems to be a lot to look forward to.

Some of those possible building blocks were on display Tuesday night as Ian Kinsler had three hits and a run scored and rookie pitcher A.J. Murray threw five strong innings as the Rangers defeated the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 3-1.

David Murphy added two hits and an RBI for the Rangers, who have won their last four meetings with the Angels this season.

It marked the second straight night that the Rangers used a pitcher making his first major league start, and both times the team has come out victorious. Another rookie, Luis Mendoza, makes his second start Wednesday in the series finale.

"It shows that we're developing something at the higher levels in our minor league system," Kinsler said of the influx of rookie pitchers. "They're able to come up here and actually prove themselves, which is nice. It just gives us something to build on going into spring training, and to know that we have something going."

The Angels (92-66) have now lost four of five and failed to improve their chances of getting the best record in the American League. Anaheim is 1 1/2 games behind the Boston Red Sox (93-64) and the Cleveland Indians (92-63), who play at Seattle later Tuesday night.

Jamey Wright (4-5) pitched the final four innings, allowing only two hits to earn the win. The veteran righthander, who was helped by a three-run sixth inning by the Rangers offense, did not walk a batter and struck out two for his first win since July 16.

"I'm just trying to finish strong in a place I'd like to be next year," Wright said. "I felt good, I felt like I had command of the zone, trying to pound the strike zone and not be out there for 80 pitches in four innings."

"You can't say enough about what Jamey Wright did, coming in and picking it up and finishing it off," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "He's been awesome. He's backed off his fastball, letting his sinker work, and he's getting tons of ground balls."

Murray scattered five hits and gave up just one run in his five innings. The lefthander struck out four with just one walk.

"Facing the Angels, I was a little nervous coming into the game," Murray admitted. "But as I got out there and as the game went along, I settled down and just made my pitches. I went out there and just attacked the strike zone, kept the ball down and made them hit the ball on the ground."

The 25-year-old Murray, who has also made 12 appearances in relief this season, fared even better than Armando Galarraga did on Monday night. Galarraga had a no-hitter through four innings, but surrendered five runs before getting pulled in the fifth.

"They went out there and they did what you'd like to see, just throw the ball in the strike zone and usually good things happen, and that's what those kids did," Washington said.

Trailing, 1-0, the Rangers pulled ahead with three runs in the sixth against reliever Darren Oliver. They were awarded the first run when Oliver balked with Kinsler, who led off the inning with his third single of the game on third base. Run-scoring singles by Hank Blalock and Murphy brought home two more runs, giving Texas a 3-1 lead.

Oliver (3-1) had gone 13 1/3 innings over 10 outings without allowing a run before giving up the three in just 1 1/3 innings.

Angels starter Dustin Moseley, making his first start since August 20, hadn't pitched since allowing Jim Thome's 500th career home run in Chicago on September 16. The righthander was on a limited pitch count, throwing four scoreless innings. He allowed just four hits while walking one and striking out three.

"I thought Mose got into a nice groove," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "He mixed his changeup and breaking balls. He pitched a terrific game."

Rookie Erick Aybar snapped a scoreless tie in the fifth inning with his first major league home run. The blast over the left field wall also broke an 0-for-18 hitless drought for the utility player, who was playing in his 111th game of the season and had 222 at-bats before his homer.