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Rangers attempt to build on strong May

Jun 1, 2008 - 1:08 PM Oakland (29-27) at Texas (29-28) 3:05 p.m. EDT

ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) -- Not only did a historic May give the Texas Rangers hope, but it also put them in position to overtake the Oakland Athletics in the standings.

The Rangers look to continue their recent domination of the A's as they attempt to complete a three-game sweep of their American League West Division rival Sunday.

Much like it has all season long, Texas used the powerful bat of Josh Hamilton - who is hitting .326 with 14 homers and a major league-leading 61 RBI - to down Oakland for the sixth time in eight meetings this year.

In doing so, the Rangers won their team-record 19th game in May and moved above .500 for the first time since April 10, when they were 5-4. With another victory on Sunday, Texas would slip past Oakland into second place in the AL West.

To complete the sweep, the Rangers will send Scott Feldman (1-2, 4.57) to the mound, despite being winless over his last three outings.

The lefthander, who has not worked since allowing five runs and six hits over six innings in a 5-2 loss to Cleveland on May 24, will be eyeing a repeat of his last start vs. Texas, when he yielded just two hits over six scoreless frames in a 4-0 win on May 9.

He'll be opposed by rookie Greg Smith (3-4, 2.84), who will target wins in consecutive starts for the first time in his career. The lefthander pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings against Toronto on Tuesday, allowing six hits in the 3-1 win.