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Rangers look to continue power surge

Jun 6, 2008 - 12:31 PM Tampa Bay (35-25) at Texas (31-31) 8:05 pm EDT

ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) -- The Texas Rangers bring their red-hot offense into the opener of a three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday.

Prior to a 9-4 loss to Cleveland on Thursday, the Rangers had become just the ninth team since 1956 campaign to score eight or more runs in six straight contests - compiling 55 runs during that stretch.

"Everybody's working their butt off out here," Rangers infielder Ramon Vazquez said. "Everybody's going out there with a good plan and they're sticking with it. Every day is a different plan.

"We got different pitchers coming at us, and they do reports and we know how they pitched to us before, making adjustments - that's how everything is working."

Vicente Padilla (7-2, 3.67 ERA) looks to take down the Rays for the second straight outing, holding them to five runs and seven hits while striking out 10 through six innings of a 12-6 victory last week.

The 30-year-old righthander hasn't suffered a loss since April 22 - a span of seven consecutive starts.

Tampa Bay counters with ace Scott Kazmir (5-1, 1.22), who seeks his six straight win. Last time out, the lefthander blanked the Chicago White Sox over seven frames for a 2-0 triumph on Sunday.

In his last matchup with Texas, Kazmir yielded just one run and three hits with 10 strikeouts in a four-run victory at Tropicana Field on May 26. He owns a 2-0 record in five career starts in the series.