Grinders: Kevin Millwood Goes Eight Innings; Rangers Rally In Eighth For 5-4 Win Over Oakland

• D-tails – Boxscore: Rangers 5, A’s 4; Standings; The Depot live game blog; Post-Game Show comment thread

• More D-tails: Hamilton out of lineup, but not yet headed for DL; A’s as in ‘Agony’: Oakland loses pair of pitchers

ARLINGTON - The Rangers do not have an ace for their starting rotation. They may, however, have a horse.

For this team, the latter might be just as important as the former.

RHP Kevin Millwood on Tuesday illustrated exactly what a horse does in a 5-4 win over Oakland that evened the Rangers record at 10-10. Namely, a horse plows through innings. He pulls his team along like it was yoke. And just when you think he’s done for the day, he works a little bit more.

Millwood didn’t have dominating stuff Tuesday. He had to shake off a bloody torn fingernail midway through the start. And he had to throw more pitches (121) than he’s thrown in the last six years in order to get the win.

“Every good team has a horse that they rely on,” 3B Michael Young said. “Performances like tonight are exactly the kinds of things they do. Those kinds of guys are so much fun to play behind because you know they are going to do everything in their power to keep you in the game. They have a rough inning, they don’t get their feelings hurt and then they come back out and get after it even harder. That’s why the description fits. That’s what he does.”

The job requires description because rarely in the last five years have the Rangers witnessed the kind of heavy lifting Millwood did Tuesday. Oh, there have been games when pitchers have been overpowering or beguiling for six or seven innings. On rare occasions, guys have cruised through eight or nine. More often, Rangers starters have qualified for wins by pitching five average innings and getting a whole lot of run support.

But simply outlasting the opposition and willing one’s self to victory?

“That win was all Millwood,” said Young. “He did it all.”

He overcame a pair of unearned runs that helped put him in a 3-1 hole through five innings. He overcame a torn fingernail in the fourth. After the Rangers presented him with a 4-3 lead through six and he allowed Ryan Sweeney a game-tying leadoff homer, he fought back to keep the score tied while facing the middle of the order.

On most nights, that would have been enough. He’d pitched seven innings, allowed 10 hits and thrown 108 pitches. Not Tuesday.

Though Darren O’Day and Eddie Guardado warmed up in the seventh, pitching coach Mike Maddux still thought he’d check with Millwood before shaking his hand and telling him nice effort.

“I’ve still got something left,” Millwood told Maddux.

So, Millwood went out for another inning with C.J. Wilson warming up behind him. Wilson barely got warm, though. Millwood retired the A’s on 13 pitches. The Rangers scored on an Oakland error and a bloop single in the bottom of the eighth and then turned the ball over to RHP Frank Francisco, who responded with a six-pitch inning to extend his streak of consecutive saves to 11, dating back to last year. Francisco has not allowed a an earned run in 21.2 innings since taking over as closer.

And so maybe the win wasn’t all Millwood, but it was close.

“I just kept pitching and pitching and pitching,” Millwood said of his night. “I felt good after the seventh. They asked me how I felt and I told them.”

After each start this season, it seems Millwood has addressed the offseason workout and diet plan designed to give him more stamina and more energy. The results seem to speak for themselves. He’s thrown at least 110 pitches in five consecutive starts, which is something he’s never done before. He’s pitched at least seven innings in all five starts, something only Millwood and Roy Halladay have done this season. And his pitch total was his highest since July 31, 2002. It’s only the second time in the Ron Washington era, a Rangers starter has been allowed to go more than 120 pitches.

“I put in the work this winter and I did a lot of stuff to get ready for this,” Millwood said. “I think I finally figured out this winter what I had to do physically. Mentally, I’ve been strong, but the older you get the more you have to deal with. I worked hard at it. It’s good to see the work pay off.”