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The Leading Logic In Sports Handicapping |
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ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) -- It all came together for Josh
Hamilton.
Hamilton homered twice and drove in five runs Friday as the
Texas Rangers rolled to a 16-8 victory over the Houston Astros
in interleague play.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, David Murphy, Chris Shelton and Michael
Young also went deep as the Rangers hit six homers and scored
their most runs of the season.
Texas (21-22), which has won three of four, is now one game
under .500 after having the worst record in the majors following
a seven-game losing streak three weeks ago.
Hamilton, who went 5-for-5, hit a solo homer in the second and a
two-run shot in the fourth before adding an RBI triple in the
seventh that gave Texas a 10-8 lead.
"It was a great night. That's why you play the game, right
there," Hamilton said. "It doesn't happen all the time but when
it does, that's what keeps you coming back. It was an awesome
night."
The center fielder's five RBI gave him a major league-leading 49
for 2008 - six ahead of Houston's Lance Berkman. Hamilton also
scored four times.
"Hamilton was really impressive," Berkman said. "He's got
tremendous bat speed.
"We saw some of that when he played in Cincinnati last year, but
he was hitting pitches tonight that I wouldn't swing at and
hitting them off the right field facade. If I had've swung at
pitches like that I'd probably be making outs."
Shelton's solo homer and Young's two-run shot were part of a
six-run eighth inning that broke the game open.
"Several of our runs tonight, including some in the seventh and
eighth, were scored with two outs," Rangers manager Ron
Washington said. "That was our stickler earlier but now it's
part of us. It seems lately that someone has always been coming
up with the big hit for us to keep the inning alive."
All six runs in the eighth came off Astros reliever Oscar
Villarreal.
Houston starter Shawn Chacon set a major league record for
consecutive no-decisions to start a season with nine, despite
getting shelled for eight runs - five earned - along with six
hits and four walks. It broke the record he shared with Dick
Stigman of the 1965 Minnesota Twins.
Chacon departed after 3 1/3 innings and the Astros trailing,
8-2, before his teammates rallied for six runs in the fifth and
sixth innings.
"I didn't make my pitches tonight and they really put the barrel
on the ball," Chacon said. "Hamilton hit everything tonight.
It's too bad that someone else had to get the loss tonight when
I started this mess."
RBI singles by Hunter Pence and Berkman and run-scoring doubles
by Miguel Tejada and Darin Erstad were part of the five-run
fifth. Kaz Matsui tied the game with an RBI hit in the sixth.
"At 8-8, I thought we had a really good chance to win the game,"
Berkman said. "But this is an American League park and an
American League team so we'll have games like this."
Rangers starter Sidney Ponson surrendered seven runs - three
earned - and nine hits while walking two in five innings.
Pence and Berkman extended their hitting streaks to 14 and 15
games, respectively, for the Astros.
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