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Hamilton, Bradley homer as Rangers bash Indians

Jun 4, 2008 - 6:06 AM By Jay Miller PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) -- Red-hot Josh Hamilton homered in his fourth consecutive game and Milton Bradley added a pair of homers as the Texas Rangers downed the Cleveland Indians, 12-7, on Tuesday.

For the first time in three nights, 12 runs proved to be enough for Texas to win a game, as Rangers pitching had given up 13 runs in back-to-back losses entering Tuesday's contest.

Hamilton, the AL Player of the Month for April and May, put the Rangers on the board early with a two-run home run off of Cleveland starter Tom Mastny in the bottom of the first. Hamilton's four-game longball streak marks his personal best and makes him only the fourth left-handed hitter in Rangers' history to accomplish the feat.

"He's swinging it better than anybody in baseball right now," Cleveland manager Eric Wedge said of Hamilton's recent power display.

Bradley followed Hamilton with a solo home run and David Murphy scored after doubling to give the Rangers a 4-0 lead at the end of the first.

"He's the same Milton," Texas manager Ron Washington said of Bradley, who has been reunited with Washington after both were part of the 2006 Oakland Athletics. "When you have Kinsler, Hamilton and Young all swinging the bat, they feed off of each other. Milton isn't doing anything different. He's capable of taking it deep if you throw it in the wrong place."

Mastny's night ended in the third inning as Jensen Lewis was called on to work out of a basses-loaded, one-out jam. Murphy responded by plating the fifth Ranger run with a single to right field.

"I tried to go out and give the team some innings, but it didn't work out," Mastny said of his first career start. "I'll go to Triple A and work on some things to try to get back here."

Cleveland got on the board in the third on back-to-back singles by Andy Marte and Grady Sizemore and an RBI single by Ben Francisco.

Texas starter A.J. Murray left the game with discomfort in his left which has already undergone two surgeries. Murray was determined to have a left rotator cuff strain that would keep him out of the rotation for the next 7-10 days.

Frankie Francisco got the Rangers out of the jam by striking out Jhonny Peralta and Casey Blake to shut down the Cleveland rally.

Cleveland would add a single run in the fourth, but were unable to hold the Rangers' offense at bay.

Texas answered with a run in the third on a solo home run by Jarrod Saltalamacchia and a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Ian Kinsler and an RBI double by Michael Young. The hit extended Young's current hitting streak to 19 games - tying him with Pittsburgh's Nate McLouth (March 31-April 21) for the longest streak in the majors this season.

"The weather conditions have been hitter-friendly over the past couple of days here. There's no shortage of runs right now," Young said. "The next few days ought to be fun."

Murphy extended the Ranger lead to 9-2 in the sixth inning with a solo home run - his seventh of the season -- and pulled to within a triple of hitting for the cycle.

Cleveland refused to go quietly, however.

The Indians plated three runs in the seventh on an RBI single by Jhonny Peralta and a two-run pinch-hit double by Shin-soo Choo. With the score 9-5 and the tying run at the plate, Eddie Guardado came on to relieve Rangers reliever Jamey Wright, and quell the Tribe's uprising.

Bradley's second home run of the night - a mammoth 432-foot shot to the club level in Rangers Ballpark in Arlington - put the Rangers up 10-6.

Texas added a pair of unearned runs later in the inning following a throwing error by Cleveland 3B Jamey Carroll following an infield hit by Frank Cattalanatto. Choo closed the Cleveland scoring in the ninth with a solo home run to center field off of Rangers reliever C.J. Wilson.

"Now we're complete," Washington said of his team's current offensive mix. "We've got guys who can hit it out of the ballpark, but when we need to scratch runs, we can do that too."