Darvish solid as Rangers down A’s

Darvish (6-1) struck out seven, walked two and gave up Oakland’s only run in
the first inning. The 25-year-old rookie allowed just four hits, lowering his
ERA to 2.60 and pushing his strikeout total to 58 in 52 innings.

Beltre’s homer came during a four-run fourth inning for the Rangers, who broke
a two-game losing streak.

Josh Hamilton extended his hitting streak to 16 games with an infield single
in the fourth inning and scored on Beltre’s two-run homer for a 2-1 lead. He
finished 2-for-4.

A’s starter Tommy Milone (5-3) gave up four runs on nine hits and a walk in
seven innings. He struck out four but had his three-start unbeaten streak
snapped.

Jemile Weeks led off the game with a double, went to third on a ground out and
scored Oakland’s only run on Josh Reddick’s sacrifice fly.

After Hamilton legged out a slow bouncer to second base leading off the fourth
inning, Beltre went down on his right knee to smack Milone’s first-pitch
changeup over the right field wall for an opposite field homer and 2-1 lead.

The Rangers rallied for two more runs and a 4-1 edge on RBI singles from Craig
Gentry and Elvis Andrus. Gentry’s hit was fielded by third baseman Josh
Donaldson, who double-clutched and threw late to first.

Darvish faced the minimum between the fourth and seventh innings but came out
after giving up a two-out single to Weeks in the eighth, which put runners at
first and second. Mike Adams struck out Jonny Gomes to end the inning and Joe
Nathan fanned the side in the ninth for his eighth save.

Game Notes

Texas went 13-6 against the A’s last season…Hamilton has 25 hits, 10 homers
and 26 RBI during his hitting streak…The Rangers are 3-3 on a seven-game
homestand that ends Thursday….Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler was out
with a stomach virus…The A’s are 1-2 on a seven-game road trip.