• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Hamilton, Rangers cool off Rays

May 28, 2008 - 3:44 AM ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- Even with his eyes closed, there's no slowing down Josh Hamilton.

Hamilton had a grand slam and five RBIs, leading the Texas Rangers past the Tampa Bay Rays, 12-6, on Tuesday.

Brandon Boggs added three hits and three RBIs and Vicente Padilla improved to 5-0 in his last seven decisions for Texas.

Hamilton, who went 2-for-5, entered Tuesday leading the American League in RBIs, second in home runs and third in the batting average. He admitted he closed his eyes while hitting his eighth-inning grand slam.

"That's the most frustrated I've ever been hitting a grand slam in my life," Hamilton said. "I was having trouble picking up the ball.

"I got everything down like I'm supposed to on time and everything. When I swung, my bat passed, I made contact with the ball. But I actually closed my eyes for a split-second because I thought it was going to run in and maybe hit me. I heard it hit and opened my eyes back up and there it went."

The Rays, who entered Tuesday with the best record in baseball, allowed a season high-tying 12 runs in losing for only the second time in their past 18 home games.

"We had a bad night, they had a good night," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "They beat us fair and square."

The Rays' No. 1 draft choice in 1999, Hamilton also had an RBI double in the first. Boggs added an RBI single in the first and a two-run double in the second as Texas took a 7-0 lead.

"We got off to a bad start," Maddon said. "But we did fight. We got it close."

By the sixth, the Rays had pulled within 7-5 on a pair of two-run homers by Cliff Floyd and Eric Hinske. However, Hamilton's second career grand slam in the eighth ended Tampa Bay's comeback hopes.

"It was big, bigger than big, huge," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "It put some distance between those guys. They never gave up."

Padilla (7-2) allowed seven hits and five earned runs in six innings. He struck out a season-high 10 and walked four.

"I didn't have a lot of control," Padilla said. "I was feeling good, but my control was a problem."

Tampa Bay's Andy Sonnanstine (6-3) allowed 10 hits in five innings, but only two of his seven runs were earned. He also struck out seven and walked one.

"The past two starts, the box score hasn't really shown how good my arm's felt," Sonnanstine said. "My location was missing up the first couple of innings. After that, I lowered my sights and started to get guys out. My arm's feeling good, it's just a matter of location."

The Rangers scored five unearned runs in the second after a two-out fielding error by rookie third baseman Evan Longoria.

"we made a mistake that cost us some runs," Maddon said.

Catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia also had three hits for Texas, which had a hit by every starter except third baseman Ramon Vazquez. The Rangers' 16 hits were the most allowed this season by the Rays.

"We needed every run we could get," Washington said. "We did what we do best. We put runs on the board."