Lewis’ mix, Hamilton’s hits lift Rangers

For Josh Hamilton, Friday night at Angel Stadium felt like any number of games he played here the past two seasons as a member of the Los Angeles Angels.

The fans didn’t care for him then because of two unproductive seasons, and they didn’t like him any better following his trade back to the Texas Rangers after a contentious split from the Angels earlier this year.

“I said, it was just like I was playing here,” said Hamilton, who described the fans’ reaction as “normal taunting.” “They booed me when I was here, and they booed when I wasn’t here.”

For Colby Lewis, though, things were different from his first pitch. He knew an adjustment was in order after seeing Angels hitters ambush his first-pitch fastballs the past two seasons, so he threw a slider for his first pitch.

The Angels never really solved him after that.

Lewis allowed two runs in 7 2/3 innings, and Hamilton had two hits and scored twice as the Rangers opened an important three-game series with a 4-2 win over the Angels.

“Everything I’ve done, everything kind of feeds off the fastball, and I threw a lot of off-speed tonight and was able to get some early outs,” Lewis said. “Sometimes you have to do something different.”

The win moved the Rangers a game closer to the Angels, who are tied with Houston atop the American League West with a 7 1/2-game lead. General manager Jon Daniels said before the game that the outcome of this series could dictate how the Rangers approach the annual trade deadline.

Lewis did his part to convince Daniels to be a buyer, striking out a season-high nine batters. He had allowed only one hit through five innings, a Mike Trout solo homer in the fourth, before the first two Angels batters reached in the sixth.

Lewis, though, relied on his slider to strike out Kole Calhoun, Trout and Albert Pujols to escape the threat.

“I think that’s as good a slider as he’s had,” manager Jeff Banister said. “That was the inning that kept him going.”

Lewis bowed out with a 4-1 lead after Calhoun’s bloop single in the eighth put runners on the corners ahead of Trout, who tagged a 3-2 pitch from Keone Kela for an RBI single. Kela, though, caught Pujols looking to end the threat.

Shawn Tolleson recorded the save, giving the Rangers their third straight win and sending the Angels to consecutive losses after winning seven straight.

“They’ve been playing really well,” Banister said. “They’re hot.”

Hamilton struck out in his first at-bat, much to the delight of the crowd, but he started the fifth with a double off the base of the right-field wall and scored two batters later when starter Nick Tropeano threw wildly to first base on a pickoff attempt to get Elvis Andrus.

Andrus, who had singled, went to third and scored as Shin-Soo Choo followed with a double. Robinson Chirinos singled two batters later to cap the three-run inning.

Hamilton singled to open the seventh and scored three batters later on a safety squeeze by Chirinos. The Rangers’ No. 6-9 hitters went 6 for 14 with three RBIs.

“It was good solid all-around baseball tonight,” Hamilton said. “It was fun to be a part of.”

This story was originally published July 25, 2015 at 12:53 AM with the headline "Lewis’ mix, Hamilton’s hits lift Rangers."