Marlon Byrd homered twice and drove in five
runs and Josh Hamilton knocked in four, as Texas teed off on Tampa Bay
pitching to the tune of a 15-3 victory.
Julio Borbon and David Murphy had two RBI each, Chris Davis was 4-for-5 with
two runs scored and Ivan Rodriguez collected three of Texas' 19 hits, scored
twice and drove in one. Ian Kinsler homered and scored twice in the rout.
Kevin Millwood (12-10) hurled a solid seven innings for the win, allowing
three runs -- two earned -- on seven hits.
With time running out on the Rangers' hopes of clinching a playoff berth, they
picked up their second game in two days on both the Red Sox and Angels
in the wild card standings and division race, respectively.
Texas is six games back of Boston and five off the pace of LA. A
critical four-game set against the Angels is on tap for next week.
Matt Garza (8-11) was torched for seven runs and six hits in 4 2/3 innings for
the Rays, who have dropped three of four.
Jason Bartlett was 2-for-3 with an RBI double and Gregg Zaun homered in
defeat.
Byrd started the comeback from what was a three-run deficit with a solo homer
in the fourth and began what was a Texas-sized, 11-run fifth frame with a
grand slam. The big blast came with two outs, but amazingly the Rangers strung
together seven more runs.
"We just chipped away and finally found a way to put some runs on the board,"
Byrd said.
Hank Blalock singled and Kinsler walked before Garza gave way to Jeff Bennett,
who allowed a two-run double from Murphy and an RBI single to Rodriguez. Davis
kept things moving with a base hit and Borbon singled in Rodriguez.
"(The fifth inning) was very difficult to watch and it's almost unbelievable,"
said Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon.
Elvis Andrus walked to load the bases and Hamilton cleared them with a double
to right field. Kinsler led off the next inning with a home run and the
Rangers added two more to their total in the eighth on a run-scoring fielder's
choice by Borbon and an RBI double by Hamilton.
The Rays had taken a 3-0 lead before the offense went dormant and the pitching
was shelled. Ben Zobrist forced in a run in the first with a bases-loaded
walk, Bartlett doubled in B.J. Upton in the second and Zaun launched a solo
shot in the fourth frame.
Game Notes
Willie Eyre and Eddie Guardado each threw a scoreless inning for
Texas...Bennett's line read five hits, five runs and two walks without
recording an out for the Rays. Dale Thayer and Andy Sonnanstine also gave up
runs in relief for Tampa Bay...Byrd has 19 home runs on the season, while
Kinsler hit his 31st of the year.
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