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Boggs, Millwood help Rangers edge A's

May 31, 2008 - 6:06 AM By John Tranchina PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) -- Kevin Millwood came off the disabled list and served notice that he definitely is healthy again.

Millwood allowed just one run and five hits in six innings and rookie Brandon Boggs drove in three to lead the Texas Rangers to a 3-1 triumph over the Oakland Athletics on Friday night.

With the victory, Texas (28-28) climbed back to the .500 mark. Oakland, however, lost its third in a row after a five-game winning streak.

Millwood (3-3), who strained his groin just 12 pitches into his last start on May 10, also against Oakland, was activated from the 15-day DL on Thursday and pitched well, striking out five without a walk.

"Everything is fine, my groin didn't bother me at all," Millwood said. "I felt like I located my fastball, and when I do that, I tend to pitch well. It was probably better than I've been all year. I'm not going to go out and blow people away, I got to locate and I got to change speeds, and the few starts before I got hurt, I wasn't doing that very well. Today, I did do it. That's when I'm good, when I can locate and change speeds."

"We needed that, he's our ace," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "He came back and he went out there, and you can't ask any more. He did his job, he threw well."

Eddie Guardado and Joaquin Benoit each threw a scoreless inning before C.J. Wilson worked the ninth for his 11th save.

Boggs was not even supposed to be in the lineup but was inserted at the last minute when outfielder Milton Bradley, who entered the day second in the American League in batting with a .327 average, pulled himself out due to light-headedness.

"Probably about 20-30 minutes before the game, I found out I was playing," Boggs said. "I was just getting some extra work in the (batting) cage, and they just came in and said I had to get ready for the game. A player in my position, anybody who's backing up, guys who aren't playing that day, you still want to come to the park still ready to play."

Boggs, who opened the scoring with an RBI double in the fourth, snapped a 1-1 tie in the sixth with a sacrifice fly to deep left field. He then doubled the lead in the eighth with another two-base hit, a one-hopper off the wall in right field that plated Josh Hamilton from first base.

"It's definitely pretty satisfying," Boggs said. "Every day, I want to come out here and prove myself more and more just so I can stay up here as long as possible."

"(Boggs) is not intimidated, he's a sponge," Washington said. "He's learning as much as he can, he's in there working hard and he stays ready. Every opportunity he gets, he does something, whether it's on the defensive end or if it's on the offensive end. He does something, and that's a pretty good quality for a young kid."

Michael Young went 2-for-4 in extending his hitting streak to 15 games.

Justin Duchscherer (4-4) had a solid outing for Oakland, surrendering two runs and six hits while striking out five and walking one in six innings.

"I'd rather it was a situation where I was worse but we won," said Duchscherer, who threw his fourth quality start in his last five outings.

"You come into this park and get that kind of performance, you think you have a chance to win," Oakland manager Bob Geren said. "But their guy hit his spots and we didn't score enough runs. Their guy made some perfect pitches."

The Athletics plated their lone run in the fifth, when Mark Ellis, who hit a leadoff double, scored on rookie Carlos Gonzalez's two-base hit down the right field line. Gonzalez went 2-for-3 in his major league debut after being recalled from Class AAA Sacramento earlier in the day, doubling in his first two at-bats.

"We didn't win, but I'm very excited about my debut," Gonzalez said. "I got to second (after the first double) and Michael Young congratulated me. It's something I'll never forget."