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Harrison dominates as Rangers top Rays

Aug 17, 2008 - 4:18 AM ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) -- The Texas Rangers' feared offense is still slumbering, but Matt Harrison celebrated his birthday by helping it turn the tables on the opposition.

Harrison tossed eight scoreless innings and Ian Kinsler homered as the Rangers blanked the Tampa Bay Rays, 3-0, on Saturday.

Michael Young had an RBI double for Texas, which has been shut out five times this season - and four in the last nine games. It is a stunningly bad stretch for the Rangers, who are the highest-scoring team in baseball.

But for once, the Rangers were on the other side of a shutout thanks to Harrison (5-2), who was celebrating his 23rd birthday. The lefthander allowed three hits and retired the last 18 hitters he faced before giving way to Eddie Guardado, who worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth to record his fourth save in as many chances.

"We were fortunate to push a couple of runs across tonight as we really haven't been swinging the bat well lately. Harrison stepped up and we really needed a starting pitcher to do that for us," Young said.

"Tonight I was able to establish my fastball, move it in and out and have success with my slider and changeup, which I threw for strikes," Harrison said. "I've been talking about trying to establish consistency and I'll get a lot of confidence from this and try to take it into the next game."

Kinsler's blast in the first inning assured Texas would not be shut out for a second straight night. It was the difference in the game until Young doubled home a run and Brandon Boggs drew a bases-loaded walk in the seventh for a 3-0 lead.

Acquired in the deal that sent Mark Teixeira to Atlanta at last year's trade deadline, Harrison struck out eight after only striking out seven batters in his first seven career starts.

"He was just electric tonight," Rangers catcher Gerald Laird said. "As soon as he had that first couple of good innings he hit a comfort zone. When he gets going early like that he just gets tougher and tougher."

Harrison was helped out by center fielder Josh Hamilton, who robbed Ben Zobrist of a game-tying home run in the sixth.

"I didn't think I hit it that well originally," Zobrist said. "But I got excited as I started seeing the ball carrying. He (Hamilton) quickly took that one away and made it look so easy doing it."

Meanwhile, Edwin Jackson (9-8) allowed one run and five hits in six innings for Tampa Bay, which had its three-game winning streak snapped.

However, the Rays (74-47) maintained a 3 1/2-game lead over Boston (71-52) in the American League East after the Red Sox lost to the Toronto Blue Jays earlier.

It was the first time the Rays appeared to feel the affects of the injuries that have been piling up. Tampa Bay fell to 7-2 without All-Star rookie third baseman Evan Longoria (fractured wrist) and star left fielder Carl Crawford (finger).

Crawford will miss the rest of the regular season, while Longoria is not expected to return for at least two weeks.