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Rangers, D'Backs hope to finish series in Arlington

May 30, 2013 - 12:55 PM (Sports Network) - Following a rare two days off, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers will conclude their weather-shortened home-and-home set with Thursday afternoon's meeting in Arlington.

The Diamondbacks swept a scheduled doubleheader in Arizona on Memorial Day to push their winning streak to three straight games, while the Rangers have now lost three in a row.

Arizona had to hold off a ninth-inning rally by Texas in the first game as the Rangers got a two-run single from Adrian Beltre and a run-scoring hit by Jurickson Profar in the frame before coming up short in a 5-3 setback.

The Diamondbacks were then able to cap the holiday with their own fireworks, scoring three late runs in the night game to pull out a 5-4 win.

Texas' Yu Darvish struck out a career-high 14 batters over 7 2/3 innings, settling down after allowing a pair of first-inning runs before serving up a game-tying two-run homer to Didi Gregorius in the eighth.

Miguel Montero then led off the ninth for Arizona with a double and Cliff Pennington later followed an intentional walk to Martin Prado with a run- scoring hit down the first-base line off reliever Robbie Ross.

"I was just trying to make sure that I didn't try to pull it because you can't pull that cutter," Pennington said of his game-winning hit. "I was trying to stay inside it and got it to go through."

Prado was able to pinch-hit after getting scratched from the starting lineup in Game 2 following a knee injury in the earlier game.

A.J. Pierzynski drove in a pair of runs for the Rangers, while Darvish was charged with four runs on seven hits.

"It's unfortunate that one pitch made the difference in the ballgame late," Rangers manager Ron Washington said of Darvish's start. "We needed him to give us a chance and he did everything that we needed him to do. Unfortunately we just didn't win the game."

The Rangers were swept in a doubleheader for the first time since May 3, 2007 and had won eight of their previous 10 versus the Diamondbacks. The two clubs were scheduled to start a two-game series in Texas on Wednesday following an off day, but the first game was postponed due to unplayable field conditions after a thunderstorm soaked the area.

No makeup date has been announced yet.

"The field took a ton of water," Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said on his team's website. "They wanted to play a game tonight and we didn't want to play a doubleheader. It was just dangerous. It was really muddy on the baselines. Part of the field was OK. Realistically, the groundskeeper said that they need to get some spikes in it and let it air out so it's playable."

Wednesday's pitching matchup will now carry over into this afternoon's game, with former Texas hurler Brandon McCarthy looking to extend his recent hot streak as the Diamondbacks hurler has been excellent over his last three starts.

McCarthy hurled eight scoreless innings of a no-decision versus Philadelphia on May 12 before logging a three-hit shutout to beat Miami 1-0 six days later. He won his second straight start on Friday after holding San Diego to a run on five hits over seven innings.

"I try to throw as many strikes as I can, and whatever I have that day just let it go into each pitch and sometimes it works and sometimes the other team will punish you if you're not on your stuff," said McCarthy, who had a career- high 18-inning scoreless streak end. "But more often than not, if you just have conviction and just keep trying to do it, luck will favor you a little bit."

The 29-year-old is 2-3 with a 4.36 earned run average through 10 starts this season and will try to allow one run or fewer in a career-best fourth straight start.

McCarthy is 2-4 with a 3.97 ERA in 11 career meetings with the Rangers, including nine starts. He pitched with Texas from 2007-09 and went 13-15 with a 4.68 ERA.

Texas turns to 24-year-old Justin Grimm, who has followed up three straight losses with back-to-back wins. That includes a 9-5 victory over Seattle on Friday as Grimm allowed three runs on a season-high 10 hits over 6 1/3 innings. He also struck out five without a walk.

The righty is 4-3 with a 4.05 ERA in eight starts this season and has logged a 2.79 ERA in three home games over that span. He faces Arizona for the first time.