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Hurley gets first career win as Rangers top Phillies

Jun 30, 2008 - 2:50 AM ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) -- A pair of relatively fresh faces helped the Texas Rangers climb above the .500 mark yet again.

Eric Hurley pitched effectively into the sixth inning en route to his first career win and fellow rookie Chris Davis homered as the Rangers defeated the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-1, on Sunday.

Josh Hamilton collected two hits and drove in a run and Michael Young had two RBI for Texas (42-41), which has hovered around the .500 mark for the last 1 1/2 months. The club has not been more than two games above or below .500 since May 12.

Making his fourth career start, Hurley (1-1) gave up a run and five hits with two walks and three strikeouts over 5 2/3 frames.

"Every start I've made it a point to work on something," Hurley said. "I was able to throw the ball inside today and had my change-up working well. I could throw the fastball and follow it with an effective change."

Davis, who played in his fourth career game and second start, blasted his second home run - a solo shot - off Phillies starter Jamie Moyer (7-6) to give the Rangers a 2-0 edge in the second. He became the first player in Rangers history to homer in each of his first two career starts.

A Texas native, Davis also homered during the series opener Friday.

"Jamie Moyer is a pitcher that has been around forever and some of the guys had tried to tell me what to expect from him," Davis said. "I got down two strikes and just tried to see the ball over the plate and it crawled over the wall."

The Rangers opened the scoring in the first when Ian Kinsler, who extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a leadoff triple, scored on Young's RBI groundout. Hamilton's run-scoring single in the third extended the advantage to 3-0.

The Phillies finally got to Hurley in the sixth as Ryan Howard delivered a two-out RBI single to cut the deficit to 3-1, but Jamey Wright recorded the final out of the inning and tossed a perfect seventh.

"Hurley was good tonight," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "He labored a bit in the sixth but he used both sides of the plate and executed his off-speed stuff really well. The bullpen was

set up just the way we wanted them and, if we can use them like that, then overuse won't be a worry for us."

Wright, along with Eddie Guardado and C.J. Wilson, combined to throw 3 1/3 hitless innings of relief.

Rookie Max Ramirez had an RBI single and Young added another run-scoring groundout in the eighth to seal the win for Texas.

The Phillies now have lost six straight series. Moyer lost his third consecutive decision despite surrendering three earned runs or less for the fifth straight outing.

"Moyer pitched well enough to win tonight," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "We wanted him to get through the sixth so he'd have a chance to get the win, but he had thrown 115 pitches and had been in there way too long."