Well-Charged Battery Allows Texas Rangers To Beat The Heat And The Padres In Homestand Opener

# Box score # In-game blog

ARLINGTON - One hundred degrees and one-hundred-plus pitches. No problem for Kevin Millwood. Hey, when the Rangers were battling 12 innings on Thursday in Arizona, he was comfy at home in Irving with remote in hand.

“I’m probably a little more animated than you guys see me,” he calmly said of his TV watching. “I was rooting, screaming a little bit.”

But Jarrod Saltalamacchia caught all 12, landed on the team plane at 4:40 a.m. and was back behind the plate on Friday night.

“I wanted to be in the lineup,” he said. “I came to the field ready to play.”

Millwood battled through what he called his worst stuff of the season. Saltalamacchia continued his hot hitting of the last two weeks, and the Rangers have now won three straight with the 12-2 rout of San Diego at Rangers Ballpark.

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Post-Game Show: Rangers 12, Padres 2

Three Up/Three Down from Arlington:

Three Up

1. The Rangers scored a knockout against a depleted opponent, left talk of hitting slump in Phoenix. Bottom third of the order accounted for six runs, seven hits and three RBIs.

2. Kevin Millwood rode out a couple bumps to improve his record to 8-5 with another excellent outing at home. Two more starts before the All-Star break, next up against the Angels.

3. Nolan and Ruth made the Smooch Cam for their 42nd anniversary.

Three Down:

1. Give me a second.

2. They so deflated the Diamondbacks that Arizona appears beaten by LAA after only a few innings.

3. No winners in the Home Run Pool.

The Depot: Rangers-Padres Live Game Blog (Minus Evan), News And Notes

ARLINGTON - Evan either is dealing with jet lag or still bothered by the man-sized taco in the booth in Arizona. We move ahead without him.

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Tweeting the Draft

From a boat dock in Wisconsin, I am not quite done with vacation (radio and blogging resumes Monday am), but if you want to follow the NHL Draft with me, please join me at my twitter account https://twitter.com/bobanddan ….

For the other 99% of you, talk to you Monday.

Love,

Bob

Rangers Friday Afternoon Home Run Pool

ARLINGTON - The sleepyheads have wandered in slowly and there is no BP out on the field today as the stadium thermometer stares back at me reading 96. (Not for the Rangers; the Padres are cavorting out in the heat.) Here’s the lineup to face Padres RHP Walter Silva:

1. Ian Kinsler 2b, 2. David Murphy lf; 3. Michael Young 3b; 4. Marlon Byrd cf; 5. Hank Blalock dh; 6. Nelson Cruz rf; 7. Jarrod Saltalamacchia c; 8. Chris Davis 1b; 9. Elvis Andrus ss.

Silva (0-0, 6.00 ERA) is making only his second start since being put on the disabled list in mid-April with a forearm strain. He pitched last weekend against the A’s and threw 107 pitches in 5.1 innings. And that was actually his longest outing of the season.

Rangers Friday Afternoon Transactions

ARLINGTON - Righty reliever Willie Eyre has been activated, OF Brandon Boggs was sent to Oklahoma City and RedHawks INF German Duran was placed on outright release waivers.

“After last night, we needed to get an extra arm down there,” manager Ron Washington said. “He can give us some length, can give us two innings.”

Washington wouldn’t specify which relievers won’t be available tonight but admitted C.J. Wilson and Frank Francisco would be “candidates’ to sit out.

Duran, from Fort Worth and Weatherford College, hit .149 in 25 games this season with the RedHawks with 13 hits and 17 strikeouts. In 60 games with the Rangers last season, he hit .231 with 33 hits and 32K’s.

Series Preview: Rangers vs. Padres

The Rangers kick off a three-game series against the Padres in Arlington tonight, and they have a few reasons to be happy. For one, they’ve won two games in a row and reclaimed sole possession of first place in the AL West. And inconceivably enough, they actually got a little good luck during last nights’ 12-inning win over the Diamondbacks.

After facing a Cy Young candidate in each of their last two series, the Rangers have the good fortune of facing three Padres starters who have given up 87 earned runs in 158 innings, which equates to a 4.96 ERA. That’s not great anywhere. It’s definitely not good in the NL. And considering that 82 of those 158 innings were played in the very pitcher-friendly confines of Petco Park, it’s just downright bad. So Ranger hitters need to be ready, and maybe even be a little more like Milton Bradley. The Milton Bradley of last year, of course.

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Morning After: Chris Davis’ Big Night, Why Omar Vizquel Held Up And More Rangers Notes

PHOENIX – So, what did we learn last night from the Rangers during a 4:22 passion play otherwise known as a 12-inning, 9-8 win over Arizona that included coming back from a first-inning deficit, blowing a three-run lead, producing the biggest run total in more than a month?

• Chris Davis knew the question was coming before it even spilled out of my mouth.

“Does this mean I’ve turned the corner?” he said after going 4-for-5 with a walk and the homer that gave the Rangers the lead for good in the 12th inning.

Well, yeah, does it?

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Road To Arlington: Rangers Minor League Report (6/26)

The Neftali relief project begins.

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Post-Game Show: Rangers 9, D’Backs 8

Three Up/Three Down from the desert:

Three Up
• If there was ever a night that could potentially restart a guy’s season it was Chris Davis’ game Thursday. Four hits, a walk, a go-ahead homer in the 12th. And an really underrated defensive play late in the game.
• Scott Feldman gave up a two-run homer in the first and then allowed only one more run in his six innings of work. That’s seven quality starts in his last 10 outings. Think he could have gone out to start the seventh, but manager Ron Washington really believes the sixth is as far as he should push Feldman.
• Really gutsy call by manager Ron Washington to pull his closer (C.J. Wilson) with two outs in a tie game in the ninth inning for a right vs. right matchup between Jason Grilli and Justin Upton. Grilli got upton to bounce to third to send the game to extra innings.

Three Down
• The bullpen is, as Mick Jagger would say, in tatters. I think the only guys who might be available on Friday are Darren O’Day and Doug Mathis. The Rangers need one of two things: A complete game from Kevin Millwood, who was sent back to Texas early Thursday to ensure a good night’s rest, or a bunch of reinforcements.
• It appears Frank Francisco isn’t quite ready to move back into the closer’s role. Pitching on the second night of a back-to-back hitch, he allowed a two-run, game-tying homer in the eighth. Expect C.J. Wilson to close for another week or so.
• Rangers are looking at a 5:30 or 6 a.m. landing and probably won’t be in there own beds until 7. They will be walking on fumes for Friday’s series opener against San Diego.