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Rangers hope to spark offense, complete sweep

Aug 27, 2008 - 10:51 AM Texas (65-68) at Kansas City (56-76), 8:10 pm EDT

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- Josh Hamilton's hot bat has cooled dramatically, but the Texas Rangers have still found ways to win games.

Hamilton, who has one home run over his last 13 games, hopes to spark the Rangers' offense as they look to complete a three-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday.

The outfielder has 29 homers and 116 RBI, proving himself a worthy MVP candidate. However, he has four homers in 84 at-bats in August - his lowest total in a month this season.

Despite an 0-for-5 outing on Tuesday, the Rangers posted a 2-1 triumph behind Kevin Millwood's second straight complete game.

In the opener, Nelson Cruz celebrated his return to the majors with three hits, including his first home run of the season, to help the Rangers snap a three-game losing streak with a 9-4 victory.

Matt Harrison (5-3, 6.27 ERA) will take the mound for Texas and hopes to bounce back from a rough outing. The 23-year-old lefthander surrendered five runs and seven hits in 3 2/3 innings on Friday against the Cleveland Indians.

Before getting tagged by the American League's hottest team, Harrison had won three starts in a row.

Brian Bannister (7-13, 5.89) will counter for Kansas City, looking to snap his personal streak of seven straight losing decisions.

In his last start, he tossed eight solid innings, allowing four runs and five hits against the Detroit Tigers on Friday. Prior to that, he coughed up a whopping 10 runs in one-plus inning to the New York Yankees. In his last 10 outings, he has given up four or more runs in seven.

Mike Aviles has a nine-game hitting streak for the Royals, going 15-for-37 in that span.