Rangers’ Hamels throws four-hitter, defeats Twins 4-1 – Reuters

Rangers' Hamels throws four-hitter, defeats Twins 4-1

MINNEAPOLIS -- Longtime Texas Rangers ace Yu Darvish is with the Los Angeles Dodgers now, and Texas is reportedly pushing back left-hander Martin Perez's next start as it sorts through its rotation.

The Rangers still have Cole Hamels every fifth game, though.

Hamels allowed four hits in his first complete game since Oct. 4, 2015, and Nomar Mazara homered for Texas in a 4-1 victory against the Minnesota Twins on Saturday.

A night after 44-year-old Bartolo Colon threw an improbable complete game for Minnesota, Hamels finished off his 16th career complete game by retiring 13 of the last 14 batters he faced and tallying 96 pitches.

"It's all about getting in a rhythm, and if I'm able to kind of start that rhythm, then obviously all the better," Hamels said. "But I think there's a lot of guys on this pitching staff that are very talented and obviously have ace-caliber stuff. So it's just kinda waking everybody back up."

Hamels (6-1) yielded one unearned run. He struck out five batters and walked one in shutting down the Twins' offense. Entering the game, he owned a 6.35 ERA in six starts against Minnesota, the worst of any opponent he has faced more than six times.

Hamels said he has really been focused on improving his changeup, and the pitch had the Twins off-balance Saturday.

Minnesota manager Paul Molitor sent out a makeshift lineup against Hamels, with Miguel Sano out of the lineup with a left hand contusion and first baseman Joe Mauer getting a planned day off.

"It had a different look, for sure," Molitor said. "Played with it a little bit before the game with the people I had available, and didn't turn out to be very productive. It's not so much people stepping up. You just want guys to go up there and take good at-bats, and show that they can make adjustments and compete. He got the better of us, there's no doubt about that."

Kyle Gibson (6-9) gave up three runs on seven hits and two walks in his 5 1/3 innings. The right-hander was making his return to the Twins' rotation after Minnesota traded Jaime Garcia to the New York Yankees before last Monday's trade deadline.

For the third straight game in the series, Texas opened the scoring in the first inning. Elvis Andrus singled and Mazara followed with a homer to the bullpens in left-center field for his 14th long ball of the season.

"I was ready to hit since the first pitch," Mazara said. "If you throw me a fastball, I'm going to be ready. He threw a fastball at me right away and I was able to put a good swing on it. I'm glad it got out of the ballpark."

The Rangers led 3-0 after Robinson Chirinos' sacrifice fly in the second plated Mike Napoli.

"I think what you saw there in the third, fourth and fifth was what we were trying to do, going in on a lot of guys," Gibson said. "I didn't expect Mazara to be that aggressive there on the first pitch, that's why we went away with him on the homer. After that, we kind of settled in.

"I made a bad pitch to Chirinos there for the sac fly. Same kind of thing, thinking we were going to get him out front on a slider. Just one of those games where you try and battle out and keep us in the game."

Hamels, meanwhile, was in cruise control. Brian Dozier led off the bottom of the first with a single, but Hamels retired the next eight batters he faced. He needed only five pitches in the second inning and 37 through the first four frames.

"Look, we've seen Cole in those type of situations," Texas manager Jeff Banister said. "The look of him tonight, the stuff that he had, how strong he was, felt like he was as strong in the eighth and the ninth as at any point in the game."

Byron Buxton stole a run for Minnesota in the fifth after singling with one out. Buxton stole second and took third on a throwing error by the catcher Chirinos. He scored on a groundout to first base.

NOTES: Minnesota 3B Miguel Sano told reporters that his hand contusion was more sore Saturday morning but a precautionary X-ray was negative for any broken bones. The injury is in a similar spot, but worse, than where Sano was hit by a pitch July 24, which caused him to miss two games. ... Texas manager Jeff Banister told MLB.com that LHP Martin Perez's next start would be pushed back after he allowed seven runs in 4 2/3 innings in a loss to the Twins on Friday. RHPs Andrew Cashner and A.J. Griffin will start in the team's two-game series at the New York Mets. With two days off during the week, MLB.com reported LHP Cole Hamels will start Friday. ... Rangers LHP Jake Diekman threw a live bullpen session before Saturday's game. Diekman has missed the season after surgery for ulcerative colitis. ... Minnesota LHP Hector Santiago will make another rehab start with Triple-A Rochester before being activated. Santiago has been July 3 with upper thoracic back pain.

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Rangers' Hamels throws four-hitter, defeats Twins 4-1 - Reuters