Post-Game(s) Show: Rangers 7-2, Mariners 5-0

• Game 1 box • Game 2 box • A.L. West standings • A.L. wild-card standings

Story of the Game

Doubleheaders are funny animals. Seven runs got the Red Sox a Sunday sweep of the Rays. Seven runs got the Rangers a convincing Game 1 win over Seattle, which was negated a few hours later by Felix Hernandez.

A win on Sunday night would have given the Rangers four sweeps of twin bills this season, unheard of. Instead, they’ll welcome Oakland to town on Monday night trailing Boston by four in the wild-card race and Los Angeles by six in the West.

Rookie Tommy Hunter, who started the year at Triple-A Oklahoma, threw his first major league complete game in the opener and has the personality to say he “finally” got it. Rookie Derek Holland took baby steps in the second game, better than his most recent starts but not good enough to beat Hernandez. “He competed very well,” manager Ron Washington said. “The opponent was just better.”

Scott Feldman will go his 17th win on Monday night, followed by Brandon McCarthy and probably Dustin Nippert. After Thursday’s off day, it remains to be seen if Kevin Millwood takes his regular turn on Friday against the Angels’ Scott Kazmir after another shaky performance on Saturday night.

If Millwood doesn’t start Friday, would Hunter go since it would be his regular day after the off day? Said Washington: “I haven’t talked to Mike [Maddux] about that yet.”

Millwood threw a bullpen session on Sunday instead of his usual post-start regime of long toss. ”Just working on a few mechanical things,” he said. “Just trying to get where it’s more consistent. You always tweak with your mechanics a little bit. My stuff’s not been the problem. It’s just consistently throwing it where I want to.”

Winner of eight games before the All-Star break, Millwood has won only twice since. On Saturday night, he didn’t make it out of the fourth inning. He said he’s not discouraged: “You have times in the year when things don’t go so well. You just try to figure ‘em out. This is just one of those times.”

Three Up:

• Tommy Hunter threw a complete game in his 16th major league start.

• Elvis Andrus tied a club rookie record with hits in each game giving him a 15-game hitting streak.

• Four hits total in the doubleheader for Julio Borbon.

Three Down:

• Only 20 games remain, nine at home.

• Though Derek Holland showed improvement over his previous three outings, he still lost his fourth consecutive start to drop to 7-11 overall and 5-10 as a starter.

• Chris Davis was limping around the clubhouse afterward with a large wrap around his right foot, the result of a pitch fouled off the foot in the second game.

Stat o’ the Game:

5-0-1: The Rangers had won five home series and split one since losing two of three games against the Twins in mid-July. That streak ended with Sunday night’s loss.

Player of the Game(s)

You can take your choice of Tommy Hunter, Felix Hernandez for seven shutout innings or your own write-in candidate.