SEATTLE -- Matt Harrison tossed a five-hit shutout, Adrian Beltre had a two-run single and Ian Kinsler added a solo homer as the Rangers beat the Mariners 4-0 on Sunday to clinch the three-game weekend series.
Harrison improved to 12-4, tied for the most wins in the majors with Gio Gonzalez and R.A. Dickey, as he scattered four singles and a double hits and overcame four walks. He took advantage of the spaciousness of Safeco Field and saw a few well-hit balls chased down in the outfield.
Harrison, who threw 114 pitches, continued his first-half roll, which over his past 10 starts includes an 8-1 record with a 1.34 ERA. He improved to 9-1 with a 2.25 ERA in his career against Seattle.
Beltre's bases-loaded single in the third, after Josh Hamilton had been intentionally walked, gave the Rangers a 3-0 lead. Their first run came in the first, when Kinsler walked, went to second on passed ball, moved to third on a grounder and scored on a Hamilton groundout.
Kinsler hit the first pitch of the fifth inning from Hisashi Iwakuma (1-2) over the manual scoreboard in left field for his 10th homer of the year and a 4-0 Rangers edge.
The Rangers maintained their five-game lead over the Angels entering an off day today ahead of a two-game series at Oakland.
-- Jeff Wilson
Rangers look good and are facing two series with Angels next few weeks. If thru win the two series against LA,the Angels must look forward to offseason amd next year. Hopefully with pitching staff coming back from disabled list, this will a strong point for Rangers and put them on the way to the post season.
Posted by: Jerry Stiewert | July 15, 2012 at 06:08 PM