Rangers 7, Athletics 2: Josh Hamilton homered and drove in four runs and Adrian Beltre also went deep as host Texas seized its fifth straight victory.
Ian Kinsler added a two-run single for the Rangers, who secured their major-league leading 50th win and pulled 6 1/2 games ahead of second-place Los Angeles in the American League West. The Angels dropped an 11-2 decision to Toronto earlier Saturday.
Making his first major league start and second appearance, Martin Perez (1-0) allowed two runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings to secure his first win.After Kinsler's two-run single gave Texas a 3-2 lead, Hamilton followed two batters later and deposited an offering from rookie Tommy Milone (8-6) over the wall in left-center for his 25th homer - and third in six games.
Milone suffered his second setback of the season versus Texas after yielding six runs on as many hits in five innings.
Chris Carter belted a homer and also came around to score on Brandon Inge's RBI single for the Athletics.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Perez was recalled from Triple-A Round Rock on Tuesday. ... Milone yielded four runs over seven innings in a 4-1 loss to the Rangers on May 16. ... Inge has collected 34 RBIs in 40 games with Oakland.
Oakland | Texas | |
Tom Milone | Player | Martin Perez |
Loss | W/L | Win |
5.0 | IP | 5.1 |
6 | Strikeouts | 5 |
6 | Hits | 6 |
1.80 | ERA | 3.38 |
Oakland | Texas | |
Chris Carter | Player | Adrian Beltre |
2 | Hits | 2 |
1 | RBI | 1 |
1 | HR | 1 |
6 | TB | 5 |
.500 | Avg | .500 |