D

Post-Game Show: Rangers 5, Indians 0

D-tails
• Boxscore, AL West standings, Wild Card standings

Story of the game
What a year it’s been for RHP Tommy Hunter. Nearly, one year to the day since the start that embarrassed him right out of the major leagues, Hunter pitched 7.2 innings of shutout ball to continue one of the best rookie seasons by a Rangers pitcher in recent history. On August 14, 2008, Hunter allowed nine baserunners (all of whom scored) in just 1.2 innings at Fenway Park.  On Wednesday, 364 days later, Hunter got out of some first-inning trouble thanks to a double-play grounder. In the third, he erased another leadoff runner with a double play. When that inning was done, Hunter was in complete control.

Hunter has a 2.26 ERA in nine starts this season, but it is 1.84 since July 1 when he joined the rotation for good. That leads all AL pitchers and ranks fourth in all of baseball. He is holding hitters to a .200 batting average since July 1, which ranks third in the AL and seventh in baseball.

Three Up
• RHP Tommy Hunter has now qualified for quality starts in six of eight outings since rejoining the team. He has pitched at least five innings in all nine of his starts this season.
• RF Josh Hamilton had three hits, giving him six multi-hit games in the first nine games of the 10-game road trip. He is batting .424 on the trip and has as many walks (five) as strikeouts.
• 2B Omar Vizquel successfully executed the Rangers’ second squeeze play of the season. It pushed home the first of the three eighth-inning runs to help salt the game away.

Three Down
• Though he did take a walk, C Jarrod Saltalamacchia was hitless in two at-bats and has had a rough road trip. He’s 1-for-11 (.091) and missed most of four games with a tired shoulder.
• 3B  Michael Young was 0-for-5 to extend his recent downturn to one hit in his last 18 at-bats. His batting average has fallen from .428 to .317 in the stretch.
• The Rangers failed to gain ground on the LA Angels in the AL West. The Angels are 18-7 since the All-Star break (17-5 against everybody other than the Rangers). Boston also maintained its 1.5 game lead by throttling Detroit.

Stat O’ The Day
17.2: Current consecutive scoreless innings streak for Rangers rookie starers RHP Tommy Hunter (8.2 innings) and LHP Derek Holland (9 innings).

Player of the game
Your nominees: RF Josh Hamilton (three hits, two doubles, two RBIs); RHP Tommy Hunter (7.2 scoreless IP); 2B Omar Vizquel (0-for-3 with successful squeeze bunt); LHP C.J. Wilson (3 Ks in 1.1 perfect innings). Vote here.