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Venturing Through Valley Of Angels, Hunter Leads Texas Rangers To First Win Ever Over Rays’ Kazmir

ARLINGTON - No, they’re not the Red Sox, the Yankees or the Angels. But the Tampa Bay Rays are pretty close. They do have that 2008 pennant waving inside Tropicana Field, and a terrific June has put them back in the post-season conversation.

In football vernacular, their weekend appearance – coming after the Rangers’ emotional series win over the LAAs and just before they make their first visit to Anaheim – could have been a schedule-maker’s “trap game.” Friday night’s pitching match-up didn’t do them any favors, either: Tommy Hunter making his sixth career start against All-Star lefty Scott Kazmir, 4-0 with a 2.09 ERA in seven career starts against the Rangers.

But they didn’t look like a team looking back or ahead. They produced just enough clutch hits, fielding plays and pitches to give birthday boy Hunter his first major league win, 3-1. With the Angels’ home loss to Baltimore, there’s a tie atop the A.L. West.

“It’s probably been the strength of this club, making sure we bear down on the task at hand,” 3B Michael Young said. “Any American League team that wants to go to the World Series is going to have to go through these guys. We know that if we don’t go out there with total team effort and total concentration, we’re not going to be very successful.”

Winning the series opener against good teams has been tough lately for the Rangers. Since the mid-May sweep of the Angels, Friday night’s win marked only the second time in eight openers against teams with winning records that the Rangers have won.

Hunter, celebrating his 23^rd birthday, again showed the kind of command that the club has been looking for from 22-year-old Derek Holland (who will start Saturday night). He threw four pitches in any count and had the Rays guessing all night. He allowed only three hits in 5.1 innings and didn’t walk a batter until the fifth.

His parents and in town, and his sister – as of late Friday night – was about to give birth.

“This is definitely the best birthday ever,” Hunter said.

The Rangers made three stellar fielding plays behind him. Two were of physical excellence – CF Marlon Byrd ran straight back to the fence and lunged to rob Evan Longoria leading off the sixth inning. 2B Ian Kinsler looked like WR Wes Welker, diving to his left in the fifth to grab a two-out rope from Carl Crawford with runners on second and third to save two runs.

The other defensive gem, which snuffed out a potential threat in the Rays’ first at bat, came courtesy of Kinsler’s noggin. Crawford singled with one out, and the majors’ top base stealer was looking for No. 41. Except he didn’t realize Longoria lined a 1-2 fastball to center. Kinsler fooled Crawford into thinking the ball was hit on the ground, mimicking a relay throw to first. Byrd doubled off Crawford by a couple steps.

“If the runner’s looking at you and not the ball, it’s pretty easy,” Kinsler said. “I’ve been there before.”

Young, career middle infielder before this season, expounded on the approach: “It works a lot on straight steals. It doesn’t work on hit-and-runs because the guy always peeks in. Ordinarily, it works on guys like Carl, those flier guys who are just trying to steal ’cause sometimes they don’t peek in and take a look. The tough part is getting them to slide. A lot of times, the third base coach is screaming so loud that [the runner] won’t slide.”

DH Hank Blalock homered for the fourth time in five starts, a two-run shot off a hanging slider out over the plate in the fourth inning. Kazmir came into the season having allowed only 11 homers to lefties in 723 career innings. Blalock’s homer was the fourth by a lefty this season off Kazmir, who on Friday night was making only his second start since returning from the disabled list because of a quad strain. This season, he’s 4-5 with a 6.79 ERA.

Byrd knocked in his seventh RBI in four games, and the pitching of Hunter, Jason Jennings, C.J. Wilson and Frankie Francisco was more than enough.

• Josh Hamilton’s rehab assignment will continue at least through Saturday’s Triple-A Oklahoma home game against Omaha. Hamilton DH’ed on Friday night at Iowa instead of playing in the field because of rain that delayed the start of the game for about an hour. He led off again and went 0-for-5, bringing his totals for the week at Oklahoma and Double-A Frisco to 2-for-20.

Rangers manager Ron Washington said Friday afternoon the club is waiting for Hamilton to regain his timing at the plate. On Friday night, Hamilton grounded out three times, hit a fly to center and struck out in the ninth inning (against James Russell, son of former Rangers pitcher Jeff Russell).