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Seven-run seventh propels Rangers past Nationals

Jun 22, 2008 - 4:36 AM By Tim Hipps PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Ramon Vazquez went 3-for-4 with a three-run double to lead the Texas Rangers to a 13-3 victory over the Washington Nationals on Saturday night.

With the Rangers holding a slim 4-3 lead, Vazquez capped the Rangers' seven-run seventh inning with a double to the right field corner that scored Josh Hamilton, David Murphy and Jarrod Saltalamacchia for an 11-3 lead.

The uprising marked the fifth time the Rangers have scored seven runs in one inning this season.

Michael Young added a bases-loaded, two-run single - his third hit of the game - in the big inning. Hamilton and Murphy also had RBI singles during the rally. One night earlier, the same Texas trio combined to go 0-for-18 at the plate in a 4-3, 14-inning loss to the Nationals.

The Rangers - who lead the majors in runs, hits, doubles, extra-base hits, RBI, total bases and slugging percentage - had a season-high 18 hits (for a nine-inning game) and reached the .500 mark (38-38) for the 19th time this season.

"To me, baseball is like boxing," Nationals manager Manny Acta said. "If I don't hit you, you're going to

hit me, and that was basically the case for us today."

Vazquez walked in the ninth and later scored the Rangers' 13th run on Chris Shelton's RBI single.

On the second pitch of the game, Ian Kinsler homered to left with a shot that popped out of the glove of Nationals left fielder Wily Mo Pena and into the Rangers' bullpen for a 1-0 lead.

"I just wanted to get inside (Nationals starter Garrett) Mock's head today and get someone on base early," said Kinsler, who has more RBI than any leadoff batter in baseball this season. "We struggled for probably the last six innings of last night's game and I felt like we needed to get something going early. I was lucky enough to scrape one out of there."

Later in the inning, Murphy's two-run double scored Young and Marlon Byrd, who both singled off Nationals righthander Garrett Mock, who was recalled Saturday from Columbus to make his second major-league start.

Mock (0-2) allowed four runs and eight hits in six innings of work. He struck out eight and walked one.

"I like what I see," Acta said of Mock, shortly before the Nationals optioned him to Class AAA Columbus. "I like his confidence. He's tough. I think he's going to be a part of our future.

"We like his energy, we like the way he plays the game. We're going to see him up here and hopefully things can work out for him and for us."

Mock settled down and pitched two innings of scoreless ball before the Rangers scored a run in the fourth.

"If I could have started out and got into a rhythm from the get-go, I think that would have been a very important thing," Mock said.

Kason Gabbard (2-3) allowed three runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings for the Rangers, the only team in the majors that has not been held scoreless this season. Reliever Luis Mendoza allowed only one hit in the final three innings to earn a save for Texas.

"That's all we can ask for as an offense - especially with the offense that we have - is just for a starter to keep us in the game and give us a chance to win," Kinsler said. "And that's what he did."

"All we're trying to do is go out there and keep our team in the game and that's what a starting pitcher is supposed to do," Gabbard said. "We're rolling right now. If we score runs, we're going to win a lot of games."

Lastings Milledge gave the Nationals a spark of life in the fourth. After making a long gallop and diving catch on the warning track to get Kinsler for the third out, Milledge led off the bottom of the inning with a solo shot to left, his sixth homer of the season.

Dmitri Young followed with a double down the third-base line and scored on Felipe Lopez's groundout that pulled the Nationals to within 4-2.

The Nationals, who dropped to 5-6 in interleague play this season and 33-32 overall since baseball returned to Washington in 2005, loaded the bases in both the fifth and sixth innings, but failed to score either time.