Beltre homers twice in Rangers’ 6-2 win over Rays

Texas Rangers starting pitcher Cole Hamels was brilliant in Saturday’s victory over the Tampa Bay Rays, racking up 10 strikeouts over 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball.

Beltre led off a three-run sixth off Tampa Bay starter Matt Andriese with the first of his two homers. “We pitched well, made some big pitches”.

The Rays trailed 2-1 going into the bottom of the fourth when second baseman Tim Beckham hit a double down the right-field line.

Beltre and Elvis Andrus had two hits each for the Rangers, who entered with a seven-game lead in the AL West.

Catcher Bobby Wilson executed a flawless bunt on a squeeze play that scored Souza Jr.to give the Rays a 3-2 lead. Drew Smyly goes after his sixth straight quality start for Tampa Bay in the finale while the Rangers send fellow left-hander Martin Perez to the mound after seeing their four-game winning streak come to an end. “I don’t want to go there”, Farrell said.

Hitting: The Rangers gave themselves a chance late after falling behind 6-2. Texas rallied to make it 6-4, and had some chances to tie it, but fell short. Nomar Mazara pinch hit for Delino DeShields, but struck out as the potential go-ahead run. “We got outpitched, outhit, out-defended”. The homer was Souza Jr.’s 13th of the season and gave the Rays an 8-4 lead.

Delino DeShields hit a two-run homer in the third inning and Drew Stubbs had a solo drive in the fifth for the Rangers, who are 1-9-2 in their last 12 regular-season road series against the Rays. He walked three, including two in the third as the Rays got their first run.

Top 6, Rangers lead 5-0: Adrian Beltre homers (20) to center.

Hamels was fantastic during his time on the hill, allowing only three hits and two walks.

“I think our pitching is really coming around the second half of the season and our lineup is very capable of doing damage like they did today”, Smyly said.

“It just seemed like for a while we would win two or three and then turn around and lose five or six in a row and we struggled with those comeback games”, Cash said.

Perez gave up six runs on five hits in six innings. The loss drops him to 8-9. “I felt good with my pitches, and there were some good pitches they didn’t swing (at) either. That’s part of the game”. It has not been determined if the Gomez will join the team from Triple-A Round Rock during a series at Cincinnati that starts Tuesday night. The 28-year-old Californian has been taken deep at least once in 10 straight games and has yielded seven blasts in his last three contests. “But the ballgame was tight and he does so much for our defense.”.